More adherence to accurate vaccination: ‘really very important’

Thus the ancient network of main characters and familiar faces is deployed to avoid the reinforcement gap. General Practitioner Benjamin Meral is a familiar face. Since the beginning of the vaccination campaign, he has committed to meticulous vaccination in his neighborhood in West Rotterdam. “A lot of people live in weak, uneducated neighborhoods, have to work hard all their lives and have relatively many health issues. So they often come to the GP with questions and then you really have a good relationship with them. Patients trust you and listen to you.” Meral says.

“We still get a lot of questions about booster, why this shot is needed again. And what exactly is there. We also noticed that many people didn’t understand the word boost. They thought it was something completely different from First or another brand or something Like that,” says Meral.

Smartphone from DigiD

According to Meral, it’s not just about trust, it’s about access as well. “A lot of people in these neighborhoods don’t have a smartphone or DigiD. Or they don’t know how to make an appointment and they don’t have someone to direct them. This was a problem for a lot of people during the first two injections and so is the case with the booster. A problem.”

Meral also noted that many people wanted to find their way but were finding it difficult when he and his colleagues started the district booster campaign: “We soon saw that our people didn’t go to these big injection sites. We decided to create a booster campaign in our neighborhoods, independent of GGD For four days, we did the test without an appointment, and often about 800 people come in a day. All the people who want it.”

When GGD was forced to put a fine mesh inoculum on the back burner due to a booster campaign, Meral and colleagues continued. Provide information in markets, community centers and mosques. He’s happy that GGD is now back: “Accurate vaccination is really, really important. 99 percent of people will get an injection after the interview, but they really need that support.”