Dutch government relieved as anti-vax movement fails to ignite

There was relief in Dutch government circles on Monday after a march through Amsterdam billed as “the largest demonstration so far against official coronavirus measures” drew just over 20,000 protesters – less than half the 50,000 its organisers had confidently predicted.

Sunday’s march, which passed off peacefully, had a strong anti-vaccination theme, with posters describing the caretaker coalition’s vaccination programme as “genocide” and others declaring simply, “Covid vaccine is poison”.

The influence of a vocal minority opposed to the vaccines – broadly the same group that took legal action against the overnight curfew last winter – has been a persistent concern. However, latest figures confirm that, after a slow start, the national jab rate gained significant momentum.

The figures from the public health institute, RIVM, show 85.2 percent of those over 18 had received their first jab by August 29th, and 76.5 per cent were fully vaccinated. Calculated in relation to everyone over 12 years of age, 82.8 per cent have had a first jab and 73.3 per cent have had both.

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Vaccination rates were expected to peak before the summer holidays and fall back during August in particular, but as winter approaches the authorities are anxious to continue to boost the current total of 22.9 million vaccine doses already administered.

Doctors sanctioned

In an unusually tough approach, for instance, the healthcare inspectorate, IGJ, which “polices” the medical sector, has cautioned 50 doctors who gave misleading information about coronavirus or vaccination – warning 10 that they face disciplinary action and in one case imposing a fine of €3,000.

The sanctions were imposed in direct response to more than 200 complaints received from members of the public since March last year, after the first case of the virus was confirmed in the south of the country on February 27th.

The inspectorate said that among the breaches of professional guidelines identified were “disputing commonly accepted scientific information, promoting the use of medication that did not comply with professional standards, and actively advising patients not to be vaccinated”.

Its report, published last week, revealed that not alone did some of the doctors attempt to influence their patients inappropriately, but at the same time they promoted “unscientific views” on social media.

At the relatively minor end of the list were doctors who refused to wear masks while treating patients – or who issued “false medical statements” exempting people from the legal obligation to wear them.

The €3,000 fine was imposed on a doctor found to have prescribed a medical treatment that was not appropriate for treating coronavirus.

The healthcare inspectorate said that although it respected all freedom of opinion, including that of doctors, “handing out information that is clearly wrong, or even spreading conspiracy theories, certainly does not come under that heading”.