Coronavirus vaccination for people with severe immune system dysfunction

Autumn 2022 vaccination campaign

If you have severe immune system dysfunction, you received an invitation for a repeat dose in autumn 2022. If you are older than 60, the invitation will have come from the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). If you are younger than 60, your family doctor will have invited you. If you didn't receive an invitation, you can still get the repeat dose.

It is especially important for you to keep your vaccinations up to date because people with a severe immune system disorder have a higher risk of becoming seriously ill with COVID-19. Even if you had a repeat dose in spring 2022, you should get another repeat dose this autumn too. You can do this if it has been at least 3 months since your last vaccination or coronavirus infection.

Third dose of the primary series

You will receive an invitation to get a third vaccine dose as part of your primary series if you:

• have severe immune system dysfunction; and
• are receiving specialist treatment; and
• are aged 12 or over.

You can find a list of groups of patients who are eligible for a three-dose primary series on the website of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). In total between 200,000 and 400,000 people are eligible.

Invitation from your consultant

Your consultant will have sent you an invitation letter to get a third dose as part of your primary vaccination series. You must have this letter in order to make an appointment with the municipal health service (GGD) for the third dose. The GGD’s contact details are in the invitation letter.

The difference between a third dose in the primary series and a repeat dose

For people with a severe immune system disorder, a three-dose primary series is needed to produce a good initial immune response. This gives most patients in this group a good level of protection against severe illness or death due to COVID-19. Unfortunately, even a third dose does not provide sufficient immunity in some patients, but it is difficult to predict who will be properly protected and who will not.

For most other people, a primary series consisting of 1 or 2 doses is enough to achieve good initial immunity. After a while, they can boost their immunity with a repeat dose. A repeat dose is not the same as the third dose for people with a severe immune system disorder.

For this group, the third dose is part of the primary series and RIVM registers it as such.