GGD and RIVM point to each other for failing to reach vaccination target

The goal was to receive 416,002 injections last week. The GGDs were ready, but only 280,570 people were still vaccinated. The problem: Vaccines are in stock in the Netherlands, but not delivered to injection points. This is evident from a visit to News time.

The vaccines are distributed by the RIVM to the injection sites. At the moment, there are about a million left at the RIVM. According to a spokesperson for RIVM, the intention was to distribute 50,000 additional vaccines to injection sites last week. “In the end, this did not happen because the GGD did not fill the appointment slots for these additional short-term vaccinations,” the spokesperson said. “Next week we can deliver on demand.”

‘No appointment without stock’

According to GGD-GHOR, the problem lies precisely in a shortage of supplies. “If we get more vaccines, we can puncture more,” the spokesperson said. “We spend time slots on the vaccines we get, but the problem is we don’t have enough vaccines to handle all of the requests. It’s not our fault. We currently have an abundance of locations and of stimuli. “

Jaap van Delden, director of the vaccination program at RIVM, said yesterday in an online catch-up session on vaccine stocks that there were not enough people who wanted to be vaccinated. He then said people may have given up because of the long wait times at call centers.

Problems in call centers

There were issues last weekend with the national number where appointments are scheduled. Dozens of complaints have been received, among others, with the elderly association KBO Brabant. “People are sometimes on endless lines,” says President Leo Bisschops. “Another problem is that they don’t have a good idea of ​​local injection options at the national level.”

“There was a case where a GGD employee heard when her mother called the national line for an appointment. That there was just room.”

“Tune in the expected number of calls”

“We are now better adapting our call centers to the expected call offer. Today 19,000 people called, all of whom were able to hire within a minute, ”said a spokesperson for GGD-GHOR. “But on Saturday we had 85,000 callers, some of them had to wait a long time. We are learning from that.”

“The big problem is that we are not getting the number of vaccines that we ask for. The availability of vaccines determines whether it is possible to vaccinate. We can only schedule vaccines if we are sure the vaccines will be delivered.”

Not just AstraZeneca

Although the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports says the problems mainly arose when making deals for the AstraZeneca vaccine, according to this tweet from GGD Hollands Midden that fewer deals can be made than expected for the Pfizer vaccine.