Dutch government under fire for late start with vaccinations

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A former senior health official has called the Netherlands' coronavirus vaccination strategy “embarrassing,” as the nation waits until Jan. 8 to begin administering shots while other nations in Europe and elsewhere already have started vaccinations.

Roel Coutinho, a respected former director of the Center for Infectious Disease Control at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, told Dutch current affairs show Nieuwsuur on Monday night: “Every week counts.”

Delaying the start of the vaccination program means that “the overburdening of healthcare will continue for a long time. That means it has an effect not only for people who have COVID, but also for others, because they cannot be admitted or operations have to be postponed.”

The first batch of vaccines made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech already have arrived in the Netherlands, but will not be administered until Jan. 8. The government has said it is still involved in preparations including getting IT systems ready to register all the vaccinations and training staff.

“Ultimately, our goal is the highest possible vaccination coverage,” Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said earlier this month. “We can only achieve this if people have confidence in the vaccine and in the vaccination process.”

De Jonge declined comment Tuesday on Coutinho's criticism.

In another grim measure of the pandemic's impact, the Dutch government's Central Bureau for Statistics reported Tuesday that 162,000 people have died in the Netherlands this year, 13,000 more than would be expected in a normal year. The country has registered more than 10,500 COVID-19 fatalities.

“Such a rise in the number of deaths has not been seen since World War II,” the agency said.

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