Coronavirus

Holland and islands Preparing Booster Shot Campaign for Dutch Caribbean

Caribische eilanden beginnen met boosterprik

The Hague- Logistical preparation is taking place for the exeution of a ‘booster campaign’ with Covid-19 vaccins in the in the Caribbean Netherlands (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, Saba) and the countries within the Kingdom (Curaçao, Aruba, Sint Maarten).

This is written in a letter from Minister of Health, Hugo de Jonge, to Dutch Parliament, dated November 12th.

The necessary logistical preparations are currently being made by the (is) countries and islands themselves.

“Just like is the case in the European Netherlands of The Netherlands, Curaçao, Aruba and St. Maarten as well as Bonaire will start the booster campaign with people over 60, residents of institutions and healthcare employees with patient contact. They will use the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine for this. There are still enough vaccines in stock to start the campaign quickly”, according to De Jonge.

The local Public Healthy Departments are again responsible for the planning and implementation of the booster campaigns, in accordance with the RIVM guidelines.

Saba and St. Eustatius

In view of the population on Saba and St. Eustatius, the phased approach used in the European Netherlands and on the larger islands is not desirable due to logistical constraints. That is why a booster campaign will be started for these islands in which the entire population aged 18-60 who wishes can receive a booster.

The information from the Minister of Health contracts information by this publication, that the start of a booster campaing on St. Eustatius was being delayed for the mere reason that The Netherlands was not yet ready to move with the provision of Booster shots.

Mix

As has now become clear from the Minister’s letter, contrary to earlier expection, this time the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine will be used, even for those who were at first instance inocculated with Moderna. A part of the population on Curaçap received the Moderna vaccine, while all of St. Eustatius and Saba were also inocculated with the Moderna Vaccine. The other islands have used the Pfizer vaccine from the get-go.

While at first it was thought that people should continue to receive shots with one and the same vaccine, later studies suggested that actually a mix of varios vaccine jabs would give the best possible protection.

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