For hours, health care minister Ernst Kuipers (D66) listens to the criticism from the House of Representatives on his corona policy apparently unmoved. He fiddles with his face a bit, plays with his pen a lot. Then he suddenly starts to nod vigorously when Mirjam Bikker of the ChristenUnie says that after more than two years of coronavirus, the House cannot hold Kuipers alone responsible for a long-term strategy. “Why don’t we also look at other cabinet ministers, mayors, school administrators?”
It is one of the few moments of approval for Kuipers, who before and after that received a torrent of reproaches from almost all parties – including from his own coalition. The most important: six months after he took office, there is still no solid long-term plan that provides clarity to society for the coming months and beyond. While the RIVM already warns that the infections are increasing and a summer wave is imminent. “Is the minister going to be surprised by the next wave?” SP member Maarten Hijink asked. “The minister seems to hope that everything will go well. Now prepare for the worst.”
The minister seems to hope that it will all go well. Prepare for the worst
Maarten Hijink SP Member of Parliament
Kuipers has been sending the same message in parliamentary debates and interviews for months: in the current phase of the pandemic, the fight against corona is no longer just up to the government, but also to society itself. He hopes that citizens will continue to do self-tests in the event of complaints or visit vulnerable elderly people, and that entrepreneurs will make plans themselves for when the infections increase. Lisa Westerveld (GroenLinks) sees Kuipers as “a minister who no longer wants to take responsibility for corona policy, who wants to privatize his public responsibility”. The summary of Bij1 leader Sylvana Simons: “Find it all out yourself.” VVD member Judith Tielen wants more “visible direction” from Kuipers.
Measure ladders
The House’s criticism focused on a number of points. First of all, the lack of clarity about under which circumstances measures may be necessary again. The parties from left to right praise the fact that Kuipers and the cabinet want to involve companies and citizens in corona policy. But sectors such as retail and catering do need “framework, direction, help and support”, says independent MP Liane den Haan. And the fact that, according to the current planning, ‘measure ladders’ per sector will not be introduced until September is much too late, says SGP member Chris Stoffer. “I’m surprised that those plans aren’t there yet. What is this about?”
There are also concerns about care. Many healthcare workers are overtired or suffer from long-term complaints after their Covid infection, the staff shortage is greater than before the corona crisis. There is a fear in the House that there will be too few beds available this autumn in the event of a high Covid wave, also because Kuipers does not want to invest in structurally higher IC capacity. “The minister is taking an incredible gamble with our health,” says Fleur Agema (PVV). “An extra illness means that you need extra hospital capacity. I expected more from this minister.”
Vaccinating many people again quickly may be another means of dampening a new wave. According to Kuipers, the GGDs need six weeks to get back to the highest injection rate, D66 spokesperson Wieke Paulusma thinks “far too long”. SP member Hijink fears that the GGDs will not be able to find staff quickly enough due to the shortage on the labor market. Other parties find government communication about the importance of repeat injections currently lacking.
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Kuipers tried to reassure the House on all points. Although the corona minister currently sees a “strong increase” in the number of infections due to the advance of sub-variants of Omikron, Kuipers has “no indications” that these variants are more sickening. At RIVM there is still “continuous monitoring” of the virus, claimed Kuipers, who called himself “primarily responsible” for combating the virus.
According to Kuipers, new measures will only be considered “if there is a more serious variant in which the situation is completely different” and more people would be hospitalized. Kuipers was not yet able to tell the House what measures he might have to take, but he did say that the sector plans still to be completed “form the basis for any measures”. During the corona debate, Kuipers’ colleague from Economic Affairs Micky Adriaansens (VVD) tweeted that she had spoken with the relevant sectors on Thursday. “There are already plans that we will complete together.”
Vaccinating quickly if necessary will not be a problem for the GGDs, promised Kuipers. Although the GGDs are now on a ‘pilot setting’, according to the minister they can fall back on a flexible layer of employees who can be called up quickly. “The GGDs have plans for various scenarios and are prepared for them.”