The Outbreak Management Team (OMT) has urged the Dutch government to impose 2G measures after a partial lockdown, reports the NOS.
While a three-week partial lockdown is expected to be announced at the press conference tonight, much controversy surrounds the introduction of 2G.
2G measures mean you could only obtain a valid QR code with a vaccination certificate or proof of recovery. Unvaccinated people would no longer have access to events or other aspects of public life — even if they have a negative PCR test.
“Very plausible” that 2G would lower infections
According to epidemiologist Frits Rosendaal from the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC), it’s likely that 2G measures would bring infections down from the past weeks spiralling numbers. He also says that this would lessen the burden on hospitals.
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Similarly, modellers from TU Delft calculated that the introduction of 2G measures would bring down the number of infections at events by 25%. Their model predicts that hospitalisations would fall by as much as 94%.
About the study: The TU Delft calculations are based on a fictitious event taking place when there’s a high rate of infections in society. “Participants” had an average age distribution and 75% of them were vaccinated.
To what extent the 2G measures would lower the number of hospitalisations depends partially on peoples’ age. At events with many elderly people present, the effects would be much greater — since they have a higher chance of ending up in hospital.
However, Rosendaal says drawing an age limit for when 2G measures would apply isn’t viable. “You run the risk of getting into an endless discussion, just like a half-hearted lockdown.”
Exclusion of unvaccinated people
The 2G measures would exclude unvaccinated people from public life. Professor of medical ethics Mariëtte van den Hoven from Amsterdam University Medical Centre stresses that unvaccinated people are unfairly lumped together as one group. According to her, it’s important “to pay attention to diversity in society.”
Van den Hoven reminds us that “Among the unvaccinated are also people who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons. It’s taking it too far to exclude them all.”
An alternative model: 1G
The modellers from TU Delft have also studied the potential effects of introducing 1G measures. This would mean everyone (whether vaccinated, recovered, or unvaccinated) would have to get tested to obtain a QR code.
In this scenario, infections would decrease by as much as 74% — much more than with the discussed 2G measures. However, there wouldn’t be a significant lowering of hospital admissions compared to 2G: 74% compared to 94%.
Since 1G would prevent more infections than 2G, the number of hospitals admissions would, however, decrease further in the long run.
Currently, there are no known discussions of introducing 1G measures at a governmental level. 2G might soon be a reality, though.
What do you think of the prospect of 2G measures in the Netherlands? Tell us in the comments below!
Feature Image: Mircea Moira/Depositphotos
excluding a group of people isn’t nice. but we as a society are all paying the price of the unvaccinated choosing not to get vaccinated and this is also unfair. so I’m in favour of a 2G society. however, it has to be controlled that 2G really gets enforced, if we want this measure to be effective and last the shortest time possible
I am vaccinated.
This exclusion cannot stand in a democratic society. International human rights (bodily integrety) trump economical/health repercussions: you cannot coerce people into taking a vaccine. Reasons shouldn’t matter – although they most certainly will for some – because you can’t judge a reason without taking a morally superior position.
I am not saying 2G wouldn’t be effective. I am not saying measures shouldn’t be taken, to protect the health of many. I am saying, however, that fundamentally, we shouldn’t stand for any kind of categorical exclusion.
If we do not, we must ask ourselves the ever-painful question: how far are we willing to go? Who must suffer, for the greater good?
The official narrative simply does not make sense (het klopt niet!).
If the vaccines are truly effective and safe, then the vaccinated should have nothing to fear.
We are still waiting for Hugo do Jonge to provide the statistics showing the number of vaccinated and unvaccinated being treated in our hospitals with COVID-19.
Government measures are not proportional to the threat. In my opinion, the cure (lockdowns, social distancing, masks, vaccinations) have caused more harm than the disease.
The tyrannical actions of our government poses more of a threat to our health and wellbeing (both physical and mental) than the virus. Indeed, everyone that I know who has tested positive for COVID-19 has fully recovered–most within a few short days.
I would like to see people start taking more responsibility for their own health rather than look to government for solutions. We can all minimise the risk of dying from COVID-19 by simply improving our general health. Hugo de Jonge pushes vaccines but I have yet to hear him promote exercise, sunshine, healthy eating, sleep and reducing alcohol consumption or cutting out smoking.
In NL unvaccinated people test constantly to be able go out to places crowded by mostly vaccinated so how are they imposing risks? In NL 90% of adults have been vaccinated and this group acts like Covid couldn’t be contracted and spread by them. They go out and travel without testing and now when the cases are rising it’s because of the small unvaccinated group? Does it make sense? Perhaps it’s time to inform the society that the vaccines don’t stope the virus from spreading and don’t prevent people from getting the virus. Maybe it’s time the society enters into an open fact-based debate and uses logic to understand that another wave isn’t a result of unvaccinated people but the problem lies elsewhere.
In the UK official government published data shows that last month of all deaths from covid 82 percent was fully vaccinated. The whole ‘it’s the unvaccinated fault’ narrative is no longer sustainable. In many countries we now see more infections compared to exactly a year ago and in 2020 nobody was vaccinated. In countries with most shots taken you see most infections and cases compared to countries with just 20 percent uptake. The simple fact that now boosters are needed and mandated says it all for most people. Except those that are hypnotized.
Hi, I’m a foreign and fully vaccinated out of the EU with Sinovac. Next week I will travel to Ámsterdam for my holidays. My doubt is if I still can receive the QR code after being tested??
I’m favorable to 2G. People should also take much more seriously other measures like wearing a mask and keep social distance. I notice a lot of sloppyness around and no controls. Moreover the government should provide clear rules for schools: right now it is a zoo with no masks and no distance with a lot of young unvaccinated students
2G is a really bad idea. If the vaccine is actually worth taking then why should you worry about people who decide not to take it? Also, how do you think those excluded people are going to be react? I don’t just mean in the short term, I also mean in the long term.
It is beyond doubt and accepted by all authorities that Vaccinated people can Carry and Transmit the disease the same as someone who is Unvaccinated.
Therefore it is beyond logic and any moral to restrict society only for the ones who agree to be vaccinated.
It is also beyond doubt that contaminated and vaccinated people in the general population are less contaminant to others, by the vertue of developping less sever symptoms. You see the logic now? The vaccin (as all the other the measures for that matter) is all about reducing the spreading to protect the most vulnerable. The same most vulnerable, which are likely more vaccinated as a group, but who still end up dying in the hospital, because they are more vulnerable. That’s why saying 80% of people in IC have had the vaccine as an argument against the effectiveness of the vaccin is a fallacy. One could better say “100% of the dead were from the most vulnerable group”, but that still brings you nowhere in terms of logical reasoning.
I am unfortunately vaccinated and now very against vaccine because I’m constantly sick since then. This 2G or obligation to get vaccinated is a crime against humanity. Even if you are vaccinated you can still get the virus. This doesn’t make any sense!!!