Now that Great Britain is offering people a third shot, the question arises what the Netherlands will do. Research is ongoing into who is eligible for a third vaccine, but that will not be standard for everyone over 50, says infectious disease specialist Bram Goorhuis.
In Israel and Great Britain, everyone aged 50 and over will be eligible for a third shot from next month. According to Bram Goorhuis, internist-infectiologist at Amsterdam UMC, the discussion in the Netherlands is still ongoing.
To research
“That discussion focuses on people with an immune disorder. They are vulnerable and could benefit from a third vaccination. Whether they get it depends on various studies that are now being done,” says Goorhuis.
That research is now underway in several hospitals. Internist-infectiologist Goorhuis is involved in research into haematological patients, such as people with leukemia.
also look at
‘Just do it’
“The national policy is therefore to wait for the study, but I myself am more of a school: let’s just do it,” says Goorhuis. “We want to get the vaccination rate as high as possible to protect people.”
“I always think measles is a good example. It is almost never about that anymore, because we are very well protected against it with a vaccination rate of 95 percent.”
developing countries
World Health Organization WHO warned rich countries late last month not to start a third shot or ‘booster dose’ while there is still a large shortage of vaccines worldwide.
Field epidemiologist Amrish Baidjoe also thinks that we should first look across the border before we start a third injection here. “There are large parts of the world where less than 1 percent of the population has been vaccinated, and that includes vulnerable people. The delta variant is very difficult in those countries, the impact is really great there, while the damage is not that bad here. “
also look at
Selfish to do the third shot here first
Baidjoe therefore finds it decadent and selfish that a third jab is being talked about here. And there’s another component that we need to take into account, according to Baidjoe. “With high circulation of the virus, the chance of mutants is high, which could come back as a boomerang.”
The field epidemiologist also thinks that we can come a long way with good compliance with the basic measures: “I dare to say that if we had adhered to the basic measures longer, we could have reduced the R number in this way. Then we wouldn’t have needed a lot of the vaccinations and a bigger part of the vaccines could have gone to other countries.”
also look at
Call for prick big
In our own country, the call for a third shot is especially strong among the vulnerable. The organization for health research ZonMw is also looking multiple studies into the possible effect of such an additional vaccination. “It already appears that many patients do not respond well to a shot because they do not have a good immune system.”
According to Hannie Bonink of ZonMw, these include patients who have undergone a lung or kidney transplant. “It is important that we do not just give that extra shot, then you feel safe but you do not know whether it is really the case.” The organization therefore wants to continue with investigations for the time being.
Listen here to the conversation about the third corona prick in EenVandaag
– .
