12 millionth Covid vaccine given as hospitalized total falls below 675
The 12 millionth Covid-19 vaccine shot was expected to be given on Saturday, with over a million administered just in the past five days. At the same time, the number of patients being treated for the coronavirus disease fell to 8 percent to 672, the lowest total since September 28.
Health Minister Hugo de Jonge reflected on how rapidly the vaccination process in the Netherlands is moving along. “Eight million shots were given in two months. This week about 1.5 million, more than 250 injections per minute,” he said on social media. “On to the 13 millionth!”
Healthcare workers placed 1,260,264 Covid-19 jabs in arms since Monday up to and including an estimated 237,927 shots administered on Friday. Nearly a half-million vaccines were given on Thursday and Friday, but that estimate is based on the number of appointments made and an assumed number of cancellations. The rough estimate was provided by public health institute RIVM after accounting for another IT error this week at municipal health service GGD.
Over a quarter of a million shots have been given out on average each of the past seven days, up 36 percent compared to a week ago. About 11,878,295 shots were given between January 6 and Friday, June 11.
Meanwhile, hospitals in the Netherlands were treating 672 people for Covid-19 on Saturday afternoon, 57 fewer than a day earlier. That total has dropped off 33 percent in a week. Another weekly drop of a third will bring the figure down to 450 by next Saturday.
The current total includes 403 people in regular nursing care, a net decrease of 45. The remaining 269 patients were being treated in intensive care units, a net decrease of 12 after accounting for admissions, discharges and deaths. The ICU total was at its lowest point since October 12, when hospitals started contending with an escalation caused by a second wave of coronavirus infections.
The daily number of coronavirus infections fell to 1,265, the RIVM said on Saturday. That brought the seven-day average down to 1,519, a 39 percent drop in seven days. The figure has not gone up at all in two weeks.
About 160 people have tested positive per 100,000 residents over the past two weeks, with over 6 percent testing positive during that period. Both figures have been trending down for weeks, but not yet to a point where the Netherlands will be off the European Union’s list of “red” countries, the second-highest risk level out of four levels.
The three cities with the most new infections on Saturday were Rotterdam (70), Amsterdam (65) and The Hague (63). While Rotterdam and The Hague were over 10 percent below average, Amsterdam’s figure was about 7 percent above average.
Since the start of the crisis, people in the Netherlands have tested positive 1,671,703 times.
