BBC News
By Anna Holligan
image captionA new test and vaccination centre near Assen
The Dutch army is cleared to help hospitals, intensive care units borrow beds from other wards, patients are sent to Germany for treatment, routine operations are postponed, a nationwide lockdown is in place - and still no vaccinations.
In a proudly well-organised country, with a well-funded health service, the first Dutch nationals will receive their coronavirus jabs on Wednesday - ten days after their European neighbours and nearly a month after the UK.
The Dutch government has come in for stinging criticism. One former public health director, Roel Coutinho, warned the country s shameful vaccination strategy was going to cost lives .