In the past two weeks, 23 residents of residential care complex De Beyart in Maastricht have died. This is almost a fifth of the number of elderly people in a care home. Doctors and other organizations have therefore worked hard to be able to give the booster shot now, and not in January as previously planned.
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By speeding up this third vaccination, doctors are trying to prevent further disaster. The numbers don’t lie. 23 of the 134 residents died from the effects of corona in the past two weeks. “That has a major impact on the residents, on their families, but of course also on the healthcare staff,” says doctor for elderly care Christophe van Dijken.
Tij keren
Vaccination started today in De Beyart. This is followed by seven more care institutions with also very vulnerable elderly people. “The booster shot offers no guarantee, but we hope to make the residents a little stronger and ultimately turn the tide,” says Van Dijken. “We’ll see if that worked out in a while.”
Need is high
The Maastricht care center is one of eight institutions in the region that will be vaccinated in the near future. In total, about 300 injections are made. The death rates are lower at the other locations, but the need is also high, says Lianne van Goch, who organizes the vaccination for all locations.
Hit hard
The reason why De Beyart was hit so hard is unclear. “Somewhere the virus has entered the care center. And then you see that it can strike hard in older people who are already more vulnerable in themselves. Let’s hope that this booster shot can make them strong enough.” says Van Goch.
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