Netherlands becomes last EU country to start coronavirus vaccinations

The Netherlands launched its coronavirus vaccination campaign on Wednesday (6 January), making it the last European Union country to start vaccinating its population, writes Jason Spinks, The Brussels Times.

Workers in health care and small care facilities (such as those for people with disabilities) will be the first to be vaccinated. A 39-year-old nursing home employee in Veghel (in the province of North Brabant, which borders on Belgium) received the first jab.

The Dutch government has brought forward the launch of its vaccination campaign by several days, after severe criticism for its slowness.

Mistakes were made and the authorities should have been better prepared for the mass vaccination campaign, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte admitted. For example, some 280,000 available doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine were not immediately put to use.

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The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was the only one authorized for use in the EU, though that changed on Wednesday as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave approval to the coronavirus developed by Moderna.

Belgium’s vaccination campaign, which officially began on Tuesday, was also criticised for its slow start, but Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke promised on Tuesday (5 January) to speed up the Covid-19 vaccinations as early as next week.