News item | 27-01-2022 | 17:20
Self-tests and mouth-nose masks (surgical mouth-nose masks type IIR) will be made available free of charge from mid-February 2022 to all municipalities in the Netherlands to distribute to people with low incomes and in the context of the district-oriented approach (as also mentioned in the letter to parliament of 12 November 2021). Municipalities will receive a message from the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) next week in which they will be informed about how they can order the self-tests and mouth-nose masks and from when the self-tests and mouth-nose masks can be delivered. It is not possible to retrieve the self-tests earlier.
Target group and numbers
The cabinet believes it is important to make self-tests and mouth-nose masks available to people with a low income through municipalities. They may experience financial barriers to the use of self-tests and mouth-nose masks.
Municipalities are responsible for distributing the mouth masks and self-tests to people with a low income. The number of self-tests and mouth masks that each municipality can order has a maximum, and is calculated on the basis of the number of people in the municipalities with an income of up to 120% of the social minimum. In total, 10 million self-tests and 10 million mouth-nose masks can be ordered until May 1. This means that roughly six self-tests and six mouth-nose masks will be made available per person until May 1.
District-oriented approach
In addition, 30 municipalities have been identified for a district-oriented approach based on, among other things, a low vaccination rate and a high number of infections. It is expected that these municipalities can make a difference with a district-oriented approach to vaccination and testing in protecting people. These self-tests can be distributed more broadly than just to people with a low income, namely among the entire population of these municipalities. A total of 5.5 million self-tests and 5.5 million mouth-nose masks can be ordered for these municipalities until 1 May.