European prize for mobile vaccination units The Netherlands’ mobile vaccination units (prikbussen) have been selected as a best-practice method for the European project ‘Overcoming Obstacles to Vaccination’.
COVID-19 vaccination for risk groups: over-60s, flu vaccine group, care workers and pregnant women From 19 September 2023 on, the first people will receive an invitation for COVID-19 vaccination. The first invitations will be sent by RIVM to people aged 60 years and older.
COVID-19 vaccination figures more up-to-date due to optimised monitoring RIVM has been publishing national and regional figures on COVID-19 vaccination in the Netherlands every week since 19 January 2021.
From 1 June 2022, heel prick test also screens for muscle disease SMA, bringing number of screened diseases to 26 From 1 June 2022, the heel prick test for Dutch newborns will also screen for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). SMA is a serious hereditary muscle condition. Detecting this disease at an early stage enables early treatment.
Tailor-made information will help immigrants make decisions on taking part in screening programmes Immigrants are relatively less likely to take part in preventive screening programmes, such as cancer screening. This is partly due to the language barrier and a lack of knowledge, according to a doctoral thesis by Nora Hamdiui.
People aged 70 and up invited for repeat vaccination against COVID-19 People aged 70 years and older living in the Netherlands may receive an invitation for a repeat booster against COVID-19 from 26 February 2022 on. They can make an appointment for vaccination by the Municipal Public Health Services (GGDs).
Booster vaccination prevents many hospital and ICU admissions In the period from 26 January to 8 February 2022, the COVID-19 vaccines were 92% effective in preventing hospital admission after the booster, and 55% effective after the basic vaccinations.
Weekly vaccination figures per neighbourhood available through open data As of today, RIVM will publish weekly updates on vaccination turnout and vaccination coverage per neighbourhood in the Netherlands, both cumulative and broken down by calendar week.
Boosters improve diminished protection against Omicron infection after basic COVID-19 vaccination or previous infection Vaccination or previous infection with the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 provide less effective protection against the Omicron variant compared to the Delta variant. A COVID-19 booster vaccination ensures renewed protection against Omicron.
Corrected vaccination figures: total number of jabs adjusted downward The number of estimated vaccinations is now nearly 5.2 million. Due to a programming error, an overestimation occurred in the vaccination figures. As a result, 220,000 excess vaccinations were reported on 13 April.