About the vaccin
Updated at:How does a vaccine work?
A vaccine restores your protection against the virus. The vaccine produces antibodies. This reduces the chance that you will become seriously ill from corona.
Read more about how a vaccine works on the website of the Medicines Evaluation Board.
The RIVM website contains more information about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.
Watch the video's below for more information
Watch the video about the 11 ingredients of the corona vaccin on Youtube
Watch the video in which Professor Marjolein van Egmond explains how corona vaccines work on YouTube
All age groups are vaccinated with the mRNA vaccine from BioNTech/Pfizer, with the dosage depending on age. This vaccine provides better protection against the current coronavirus variants.
A modified protein vaccine from manufacturer Novavax is also expected to be available soon. This vaccine also provides better protection against coronavirus variants that are currently available. When this vaccine comes to market, it will be available to individuals who do not want or cannot receive an mRNA vaccine.
This is not yet known. A decision on this will be taken at a later moment by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.
At the moment, only the government can buy corona vaccines. The corona vaccines are not yet freely available on the market. That is why it is not possible to buy a corona vaccine yourself.
Have you gotten a corona vaccination? You can still become infected by the coronavirus, but you usually become less ill. The chance that you will become seriously ill from corona is then smaller. The vaccines protect you against hospitalization and death. You can still infect others. Therefore, follow the advice to prevent respiratory infections. This way you protect yourself and people with vulnerable health.
Current information about the protection of corona vaccines against hospital and ICU admission can be found on the RIVM website.
The corona vaccine for the autumn round is the XBB-vaccine from pharmaceutical company BioNTech/Pfizer. This updated XBB-vaccine has the same effect as previous mRNA vaccines. The difference is that the mRNA in the vaccine has been adjusted so that it better matches the current virus variants.
In addition, the XBB vaccine is a monovalent mRNA vaccine. This means that the vaccine only contains mRNA from the most recent coronavirus variants. In the previous autumn round, vaccination was done with bivalent vaccines, which, in addition to pieces of mRNA from the most common virus variants at the time, also contained mRNA from the original (Wuhan) virus. The monovalent XBB-vaccines therefore no longer contain mRNA from the original virus.
An mRNA vaccine gives the body information to produce a harmless protein called the spike protein. There are also spike proteins on the outside of the virus that causes corona. Our immune system recognizes the foreign spike proteins on the outside of the virus and produces antibodies and other defense mechanisms to clear the viruses. When the spike proteins are made after vaccination, our body clears away all the mRNA molecules.
Scientific data shows that the XBB-vaccines generate antibodies against most currently circulating coronavirus variants.
The BA.2.86 variant is also circulating in the Netherlands. Research is currently being conducted into the effectiveness of the vaccines against this variant. So far there are no indications that this variant is more pathogenic.
A modified protein vaccine from manufacturer Novavax is expected to become available this autumn. Just like the mRNA vaccine, this vaccine provides better protection against the current coronavirus variants. When this vaccine comes to market, it will be available to individuals who do not want or cannot receive an mRNA vaccine.
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