New Covid-19 vaccination appointments shot up with coronavirus pass policy

The number of people who decided to get vaccinated against Covid-19 nearly doubled after the government instated the coronavirus access pass, NU.nl reported based on information from the GGD GHOR. Notably, the number of people between 18 to 35 who opted for the Covid-19 vaccine increased.

After the announcement of the implementation of a mandatory coronavirus access pass in the hospitality and cultural sectors during a press conference on September 14, vaccination registrations rose from seven thousand to 13 thousand per day.

The number of people who showed up to walk-in Covid-19 vaccination sites also increased.

The coronavirus access pass gave people “something to think about,” a GGD spokesperson told NU.nl. “If they make a well-informed decision to get vaccinated with us, then everyone is welcome,” the spokesperson said.

The greatest rush has waned off, the RIVM director for the vaccination program, Marcel van Raaij, said during a press conference. Up to and until September 26, the number of vaccination appointments stabilized at around ten thousand per day.

The GGD said they could not say for sure that the rise in vaccination appointments was due to the coronavirus access pass because they do not keep track of the reason for vaccination. Other explanations could be that people were on vacation or could not get the vaccine due to an earlier infection.

Around 82.4 percent of the adult population in the Netherlands is fully against Covid-19, according to data from the RIVM and at least 86.3 percent have had their first jab.