Tuesday, August 17, 2021 at 3:47 PM• Dominic Mostert

Louis van Gaal hopes that Prime Minister Mark Rutte will soon speak out about the need for vaccination. The national coach of the Dutch national team does not want to force anyone to be vaccinated against the corona virus, but thinks it is very important that his internationals are vaccinated. Rutte repeated this month that ‘the Netherlands is not in favor’ of a vaccination obligation.

“The law prescribes that this is a free choice,” said Van Gaal on Tuesday afternoon at his presentation as national coach of the Dutch. “I cannot oppose the law, then I will have the judge on my roof. I think you should get vaccinated. Not only for yourself, but also for others. I think the Prime Minister should do something about that say.” Van Gaal later added: “The team interest always comes before the individual interest, with me. And that also applies to vaccination.”

Rutte recently said that he did not feel like a vaccination obligation. “At the moment we don’t want that, but you never know how the situation will develop,” the prime minister said. “We see no need for a vaccination obligation. If certain companies choose to do so, the judge may have to rule on this.” In France, there is a vaccination obligation for healthcare workers. However, the cabinet has ‘no decision tree’ to impose a blood test obligation, Rutte said.

According to trade unions and employers’ organizations, in the Netherlands it is not allowed to oblige staff to be vaccinated before returning to the workplace. “The government could adopt an emergency law for this, but Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Minister Hugo de Jonge have already said that they do not make vaccinations mandatory,” a spokesperson for the FNV trade union recently said.