The Hague, Netherlands (AP) – Almost two weeks after most other European Union nations, the Netherlands began its COVID-19 vaccination program on Wednesday, with nursing staff and frontline workers in hospitals as the first in line for the injection.
Sanna Elkadiri, a nurse at a nursing home for people with dementia, was the first to receive an injection of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at a mass vaccination center in Veghel, 120 kilometers (75 miles) southeast of the capital, Amsterdam.
“This is a very important moment for me as a person working in the healthcare sector. You want to provide the service knowing that your customers are safe, ”said Elkadiri. “Without the vaccine this is not possible, but from now on I can do it.”
The Dutch government is under severe criticism the late start of vaccinations. Prime Minister Mark Rutte told lawmakers in a debate on Tuesday that authorities focused preparations on the easy-to-handle vaccine made by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, which has not yet been released for use in the EU, and not the Pfizer vaccine. -BioNTech.
Dutch Health Minister Hugo de Jonge did not comment on the criticism when speaking before Elkadiri rolled up the left sleeve of his purple nurse’s uniform to receive the first shot. Instead, he hoped for a future with the virus under control.
“Finally, after 10 months of crisis, today we are starting to end this crisis,” said De Jonge. But he warned that “it will be a while before we have all the misery behind. “
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which requires ultra-cold storage before use, is the only injection approved so far by the European Medicines Agency. On Wednesday, the agency was considering approving another vaccine against coronavirus, made by Moderna.
“I am very disappointed that we are two weeks late in other countries,” said Rutte in the Dutch parliament.
The country’s public health institute said that about 300,000 caregivers and hospital staff are first in line to receive vaccines. Two more large-scale vaccination centers are due to open Friday and by the end of next week, 25 are due to open across the country, the institute said.
Health officials plan to vaccinate a maximum of 66,000 health workers a week starting January 18.
In a tweet thanking the team involved in the implementation, Dutch king Willem-Alexander called the start of vaccines “a turning point that offers hope for a way out of this crisis”.
The Netherlands is experiencing a severe five-week blockade imposed when infection rates were soaring across the country. In recent days, infection rates have dropped, but the country’s public health institute said on Tuesday that the blockade has not yet had a clear effect on infection rates.
Almost 12,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the Netherlands since the pandemic began, although the real number is higher because not all people who died from the symptoms were tested.
Andre Rouvoet, president of the umbrella organization of the local health authorities, welcomed the first vaccines, which were broadcast live on Dutch television.
“It is a symbol of the hundreds of thousands – millions – of vaccines that will be administered in the Netherlands in the coming months,” he said.
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