ORANJESTAD- On the island of St. Eustatius, 600 doses of the Moderna vaccine are in danger of expiring and being thrown away, because the island has not yet received permission from the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) to use these as ‘booster shots’ for completely vaccinated residents.

Although worldwide there is already much talk about administering a third injection of the Corona vaccine to maintain the needed level of protection against Covid-19, Public Health Authorities in the Netherlands are still very reluctant about a decision to provide ‘booster shots’ to a broader section of the population. So far booster shots are only given to the most vulnerable groups, namely those with so-called co-morbidity of underlying diseases such as asthma or diabetes. 

Ready to move

According to a usually very reliable source on the island, the Public Health Department is ‘ready to move’ as soon as green light is provided by RIVM to proceed with the application of booster shots to all residents 60 years and older.  The RIVM, so far however, is reluctant or plainly refusing to provide that necessary authorization. The reason for this lack of permission, reputedly, is because of the fact that a booster shot cannot be given to bigger groups in the Netherlands as of yet. Actually, a decision has not yet been taken by Dutch Government to indeed proceed to a third injection for all vaccinated residents. 

“Apparently it is no problem for us to be lagging behind European Netherlands with nearly everything, but we are certainly not allowed to be ahead of them in anything,” according to the BES-Reporter’s source on Thursday.