Fewer people got repeat shots last week, lowest number since the end of September | Inland

Last week, the vaccination figures from the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) showed that almost 550,000 repeat vaccinations had been administered in one week. In the weeks before that, the number of people vaccinated was around 600,000.

In total, almost 3.4 million people in the Netherlands have now received the repeat injection. Anyone aged 12 and older who has had the first injections (the basic series) is eligible for the repeat vaccination. About a quarter of all over 12s have received the repeat shot. The over-60s were the first to act, because they are most at risk from infection, and slightly more than half of that group had the repeat shot.

RIVM is not commenting on the turnout. “We don’t have a target percentage. At the previous repeat shots, earlier this year, the turnout was about 54 percent. There are still people who get the shot, we are not at a plateau yet. We cannot communicate the final score yet, so it is too early to say whether it will be better or worse.”

The institute does say that the repeat shot helps to prevent people from ending up in hospital after infection. “The more people who are vaccinated, the less likely they are to be hospitalized, which is more pleasant for the pressure on healthcare.”

To substantiate this, RIVM has commissioned a study. People aged 60 and older who received the repeat shot were 63 percent less likely to be admitted than peers who had had the previous corona vaccinations but not the repeat shot. According to the institute, the chance of ending up in intensive care was 55 percent smaller.

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Meanwhile, the number of corona cases in the Netherlands is falling. Fewer and fewer people are testing positive. In the past week, RIVM registered 7,719 confirmed infections. In the weekly overviews, this is the lowest number since the end of May. “The decline that we have been seeing for a while is continuing. We can say that the autumn wave has come to an end,” the RIVM notes.

Last week, the institute reported 12,311 positive tests in a week. So the number of new cases is now down by 37 percent, the biggest drop since mid-April 29 weeks ago.

Between Sunday morning and Monday morning, RIVM registered only 616 positive tests. That is the lowest number since June 29 last year. There were just over 700 confirmed infections between Saturday and Sunday.

Self-tests are not counted, so the actual number of new cases may be higher. But RIVM also sees evidence in other places that the number of infections is actually falling. For example, fewer virus particles can be found in the sewage water. Fewer people in nursing homes also test positive. On the RIVM site where people can report whether they have corona complaints, the Infection Radar, the share of reports is also falling.

With the number of positive tests, the number of hospital admissions also decreases. In the past week, 341 people ended up in hospital because of their corona complaints. That is almost 35 percent less than the week before and the lowest number of admissions in seven weeks. Of the 341, 23 ended up in intensive care, compared to 36 a week earlier. Last week, RIVM received a message about the death of 29 corona patients. A week before, there were 38 reported deaths.

However, the alarm level remains unchanged. The government uses a ‘thermometer’ to monitor the spread of the virus. It has four settings: low, high, high and very high. The Netherlands has been on step two since mid-October and will remain so for the time being. This will not lead to new measures or restrictions for the time being.