De Harlekijn primary school in Son en Breugel has had to close its doors temporarily.
They did so in consultation with the regional health department. It seems there’s a COVID-19 outbreak within the school. That’s according to Mooisonenbreugel.nl, a community newspaper for the area.
The school will be closed for a week. But, this doesn’t mean kids are off the hook. Pupils got laptops and other teaching materials to take home.
AstraZeneca jabs to resume
In other coronavirus news, the Dutch government announced yesterday that it would restart AstraZeneca vaccinations. That would be from next week, says the Dutch Minister of Health, Hugo De Jonge. This comes after these inoculations were suspended for two weeks.
Last week, several countries, including the Netherlands, paused the injection of the AstraZeneca vaccine. That was because of reports of thrombosis-like symptoms. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) investigated these reports.
They presented their verdict yesterday – the vaccine is safe and effective. The EMA found no link between thrombosis and the vaccine. However, a connection between the thrombosis symptoms and the vaccine can’t yet be ruled out, said EMA director Emer Cooke.
Considered safe
The EMA ruled that the jab’s advantages outweigh the disadvantages. And that complaints are so rare; the vaccine can be considered safe. It does come with a warning about the complaints.
The Netherlands now has 25 known cases of rare forms of thrombosis combined with a reduced number of blood platelets. Most of these are women under the age of 55. Minister De Jonge decided not to designate these people as a risk group.
So this group will also receive the AstraZeneca vaccine. “The EMA clearly stated that the risk of this rare type of disease is minimal,” said De Jonge.
Translator: Melinda Walraven
