The vaccination rate in The Hague and other major cities remains far below the percentage needed to protect children from serious infectious diseases. This is evident from new figures from the RIVM. Alderman Hilbert Bredemeijer is seriously concerned and calls on the caretaker cabinet to take action. The municipality is firmly pursuing its own measures to increase the vaccination rate.
The required vaccination rate of 90%/95% is not being achieved for any vaccination. In recent months, there was even a measles outbreak in The Hague. Alderman Hilbert Bredemeijer is very concerned and calls on the government to take action. “Infectious diseases are back on the agenda. Measles and whooping cough are rearing their heads and making children seriously ill. The municipality is doing what it can to vaccinate children, but it really needs more and long-term support for this. Caretaker or not: this cannot wait. So provide structural support for large cities and also launch a national campaign.”
Vaccination declines and increases
The vaccination rate for the MMR among infants in The Hague has further decreased from 83.0% to 80.9%. For the DKTP among toddlers it even decreased from 77.3 to 72.3. These two vaccinations protect against, among other things, the potentially fatal diseases measles and whooping cough. There was also good news: for the vaccinations DKTP among infants and MMR among school children there was a slight increase, from 80.6% to 81.0% and 69.6% to 71.2% respectively. For the HPV vaccination there was a significant increase and the vaccination rate for maternal whooping cough also increased (from 49.4% to 53.0%).
Municipality implements strict measures
The municipality of The Hague has been taking strong and unique measures since September last year to increase the vaccination rate. For example, vaccinations are being administered by midwives at schools, a city-wide campaign has been rolled out and information is being provided by youth doctors and nurses at neighborhood meetings, among other things.
The measures seem to be paying off. The number of MMR and DTP vaccinations for young children increased by 4% and 9% respectively. The number of maternal whooping cough vaccinations (22-week vaccination) for mothers increased by no less than 14%. The effect of this is not yet reflected in the vaccination rate; the figures published today concern the period before these measures were taken.
Text & images provided by Gemeente Den Haag, translation by The Hague Online