About 10,000 injections per week. That is the assignment for GGD Drenthe. And then it concerns injections against the coronavirus. The health service has started a new campaign for vaccination against the coronavirus.
Anyone who is at higher risk of becoming seriously ill from the coronavirus can get the shot. Healthcare workers with direct patient contact are also eligible. This week it concerns 3,000 injections, 95 percent of which have now been scheduled. Next week it will be double the number of injections.
“The virus has still not gone away and it looks like it will not go away either. It seems to be a repeat of events: a corona vaccination every year. And especially for the vulnerable, because they run the risk of becoming seriously ill. of Covid,” says the vaccination coordinator of the GGD Drenthe.
In Drenthe, people can go to eight locations for the booster shot. These are largely different places than the major vaccination campaigns of 2021. The locations are open on a variable basis. For example, today vaccinations will only take place in the De Schalle village hall in Nijeveen, but tomorrow and the day after tomorrow the vaccination team will move to the city church in Emmen, and De Bonte Wever in Assen will follow on Thursday and Friday.
The situation is also different than when the virus was still circulating in 2021. “Working the way we do now requires something different from the employees than before. Every day we are at a different location in the province. Every day we rebuild and dismantle again. There is a large bus in front of the door and everything literally has to go inside.”
People aged 60 and over have now received an invitation. People aged 18 to 59 who are invited annually for the flu shot, healthcare workers and pregnant women will not receive an invitation letter. From mid-October they can make an appointment with the GGD via www.planjeprik.nl. This also applies to people outside these groups who still want to be vaccinated. It is currently mandatory to make an appointment.
The new campaign is part of the GGD’s new commitment to focus more on prevention. “That is also about a healthy lifestyle, how do we deal with health, when does someone go to a doctor or not and when can you look something up yourself via www.thuisarts.nl. There are all kinds of information sources to help you take care of it together. that the pressure on healthcare is as low as possible.”
The vaccination campaign will continue until December. The corona shot will remain available for pregnant women and people with a high medical risk who are referred by a doctor. At the same time as this campaign, young people between the ages of 18 and 26 can receive a shot against HPV.