Patience is running out: Seven in 10 back
specific rules for the unvaccinated
Corona
October 27
Over seven
in 10 people in the Netherlands think the government should bring in specific
measures to deal with the number of people who have not been vaccinated against
coronavirus, according to a poll of 28,000 people by television current affairs
show EenVandaag. Some 60% of those polled said that people who have not been
vaccinated should pay for the tests they need to take to access bars and
restaurants themselves, EenVandaag found. The tests are currently free. The
government is due to announce next Tuesday what it plans to do to cope with the
rise in coronavirus cases and hospital admissions. The number of positive
coronavirus tests rose 50% last week, while the positive test rate rose from
12% to over 15%. Around one third more people were hospitalised while the
number of deaths is also up 62% week on week. Some 83% of the Dutch adult
population is now fully vaccinated and the number is still creeping up slowly.
But four in five of hospital patients have not been vaccinated, and this is why
extra measures may be on the cards. Nevertheless, several members of the
government’s Outbreak Management Team have told news website Nu.nl that they do
not support having specific measures targeting people who have not been
vaccinated. ‘I do not back this at all,’ said microbiologist and doctor Jan
Kluytmans. ‘This would really conflict with the freedom of the individual.’ In
addition, special measures would be difficult to introduce because the
unvaccinated are spread out over the country, in big cities and in the Bible
Belt, he told the website. Diederik Gommers, chairman of the Dutch intensive
care association, told Nu.nl he did not want to differentiate between people.
‘You must be careful not to set different groups against each other,’ he said.
Infectious disease professor Andreas Voss described the dilemma as
‘difficult’. ‘I do not think society should
be held to ransom by a minority, but I am also opposed to all forms of
discrimination,’ he said. Advice The OMT is due to make its recommendations on
what should be done about the sharp rise in coronavirus cases to the cabinet
later this week, ahead of next Tuesday’s press conference. Health minister Hugo
de Jonge said earlier that he is not ruling out introducing special measures
for people who have not been vaccinated, but declined to go into detail. Rather
than introduce new measures, Kluytman told Nu.nl he would like to see the
remaining ones being more rigorously enforced. ‘Keep to 1.5 metres and work at
home when possible, stay home if you have symptoms and get tested,’ he said.
‘And use a QR code to access certain risky activities. These are all measures
which seem to be being ignored.’ QR codes Research by both broadcaster NOS and
the Parool, as well as anecdotal evidence, show that many cafes and restaurants
are not checking that their customers have a valid QR code. MPs too support
enforcing the measures which remain rather than introducing separate rules for
people who have not been vaccinated, including parties from the current
coalition. Excluding people who have not been vaccinated is a last resort, said
D66 MP Jan Paternotte. ‘Every measure begins with enforcement. We have been hearing
about places where there are few or no coronavirus pass checks,’ he said. ‘That
has to happen first.’ Nurses Ernst Kuipers, head of the Dutch acute care
network LNAZ, told television talk show Jinek on Tuesday night that everyone
who has not been vaccinated will eventually get coronavirus. ‘If you want to
keep the healthcare service available for everyone – be they a cancer patient
or a coronavirus patient, then we have to do something about the total number
of coronavirus patients we will have this winter,’ he said. New measures are
unavoidable, health economics professor Marcel Canoy told RTL Nieuws. The lack
of IC capacity cannot easily be solved because of the shortage of staff, he
said. ‘You cannot magic a thousand IC nurses from nothing,’ he said.
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