What can we do this summer? The travel industry is optimistic, but Osterhouse does not consider vaccination a license

With the new vaccination strategy Minister De Jong sent to the House of Representatives today, he hopes everyone will have their first injection before July 1. So we can start thinking carefully about our summer vacation. What is possible and what is not possible?

What is possible this summer is the question that is currently preoccupying us collectively. ANVR president of the travel industry, Frank Van Ostendam, is optimistic and sees the opportunities. Virologist Ab Osterhaus is cautious and warns that vaccination is not only a license to go on vacation.

‘Almost normal leave is possible’

“An important condition is that you get vaccinated or you have to show a negative test before and after your flight,” says Frank van Ostdam. So he is positive about what he will look like next summer.

“A near-normal vacation is possible, but certainly there will be demands from the vacation countries,” he explains. “If it is hoped that they will go from yellow to orange again, they will want to maintain some control over the spread of the virus.”

Quarantaineverklaring

Currently, travelers entering the Netherlands by plane or boat must show a corona test. The Cabinet also wants to conduct a mandatory coronavirus test for motorists coming from a danger zone.

In addition, they must have a quarantine certificate with them, in which the person declares that he will go into quarantine for 10 days upon his return home. You can also take the test after 5 days, and if it is negative, your quarantine commitment will expire.

No isolation requirements for the “Yellow Code”

Will we soon have to quarantine upon arrival at our vacation destination? Not when vacation countries are shrinking to the yellow symbol. When a country within the European Union is “yellow”, there are no quarantine requirements attached to it.

Outside the European Union, various rules apply. “I hope that very soon there will be more clarity regarding long-haul flights and that there will be no obligation to quarantine there, if the country is yellow,” says Ostdam.

On vacation with a single bullet?

Before July, Hugo de Jong’s goal was for us all to get at least one bullet. But to get a vaccination passport, for example, you need – except for the vaccine from the pharmaceutical company Janssen – after two injections. What is possible if you have one injection?

Virologist Ab Osterhaus confirms that there is still no definitive answer about post-vaccination infection. “We first have to know this before we can send people on vacation. I expect holiday destinations will require this vaccination certificate.”

Vaccination or negative test is not a license

But you only get this passport after two injections. Then you are fully protected. In most cases, the injection provides 65 percent protection, “says Osterhouse, who considers it risky to give travelers permission to go on vacation during a vaccination or negative test.

“The test remains a snapshot,” he continues. “If you do the test, you will not be contagious until half a day later. This is not smart. Then you take the virus with you on the plane to your vacation destination.”

I’m thinking about summer vacation

“I expect the people who found this table in the newspaper this morning will still be thinking about Summer Vacation,” says Frank Van Ostdam of ANVR. “We see people who have been vaccinated and are booking their summer vacation, so it’s basically people over the age of 70,” he says.

And what if I book a vacation now and the country is still turning orange because infections are increasing? “We have stopped offering coupons in these cases. If this is the case, you can rebook your vacation to another destination or get your money back within fourteen days.”

Do pharmaceutical companies deliver as agreed?

The new vaccination strategy sent by outgoing minister Hugo de Jong into the room shows when any group can expect the first shot. All persons over 40 years old are eligible at the end of May. De Volkskrant is late Here See when you can get your first shot.

But do these pharmaceutical companies provide what has been agreed upon? On Tuesday, Reuters news agency reported that there were problems with Janssen’s vaccine production. This happened at Pfzier in January, which turns out to be able to do more today. And Astra-Zenica promised to be able to offer more than it later turned out in practice.

Flinke Disclaimer

Such setbacks cause delays. Like the paragraph Hugo de Jonge continues to mention: This is how we’re going, but then the deliveries should go well. Therefore a substantial disclaimer applies to accounts. “The new vaccination strategy looks rosy, but of course deliveries can always be successful.”

“It is especially important to reduce the number of reproductions,” explains Professor Emeritus Ben van Zejst. “In Israel and the UK, you can actually see that the R has decreased. There is really a lot of vaccination. This relieves anxiety. This is the most important. If the vaccination of the 1930s and 1920s is less bad, they are not burdening the care.”

European vaccination passport

In Brussels they are also thinking about tourism this summer. The European Commission submits a proposal for vaccination on March 17th. It should become European proof that the wearer can prove that they have been vaccinated against the Coronavirus. The commission says this should make free travel within the European Union possible again, for both business and pleasure.

A week later, the heads of government of the European Union countries can discuss it at the European summit. The plan must be approved by member states and the European Parliament. Sweden, Denmark, and Greece want a vaccination certificate, but countries like Germany and the Netherlands are more cautious about this system.

Organize a vacation trial

As Fieldlab held a major festival this weekend to investigate how distribution works in a festival, ANVR wants to organize a test flight. It is preferred that three planes arrive at a destination in Europe. People are not allowed to leave the resort.

The ministry is studying the experimental holidays. Later tonight, it will be announced that this test holiday will continue and how it will look. At the press conference on March 23, there will be travel advice for the May holidays and the Cabinet also hopes to say more about the summer vacation.