The planning for the Dutch anti-corona vaccination programme has been published. The group I am in shows in a time line from the very end of March to nearly the end of September. This applies to all elderly people living at home. The 18-60 group, which was originally supposed to be last in line, will begin already in May and their time line actually stops before the one for my group!

The bottom line is that I may have to wait 8 or 9 months for my turn. Knowing my luck with lotteries, that is probably what will happen.

For my own safety, I cannot make plans to visit anywhere or go on holiday or be with a group of friends for another three quarters of a year.

To be honest, I am feeling quite low today. I have even taken the unprecedented step of writing letters to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Health. Together with the rest of the cabinet, they are responsible for making these plans.

Let me compare the reports from the UK:

Broadly, vaccines are being given to the most vulnerable first, as set out in a list of nine high-priority groups, covering around 30 million people.
They are thought to represent 90-99% of those at risk of dying from Covid-19.
1. Residents in care homes for older adults and their carers
2. 80-year-olds and over and frontline health and social care workers
3. 75-year-olds and over
4. 70-year-olds and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals
5. 65-year-olds and over
6. 16- to 64-year-olds with serious underlying health conditions
7. 60-year-olds and over
8. 55-year-olds and over
9. 50-year-olds and over

30 million people is around half the UK population, and double the Dutch population. Those 9 groups cover most people at risk. In the UK I would be in group 5.

What’s more, the UK hopes to have everyone in those 9 groups vaccinated by Easter, which is the beginning of April.

The Dutch programme has put several parallel lines in place, 4 in fact. Their excuse – sorry, explanation – is the implementation of different vaccines. All those four lines stretch well into September. The line I am in stretches the furthest. Although I am in the 90-99% of vulnerable people (according to the BBC report), I could conceivably one of the last in the Netherlands to be vaccinated. So much for prioritising the vulnerable!