No More Vaccination Calls

People need to think independently and then make a personal and conscientious consideration about vaccination. That said SGP leader Kees van der Staaij on Monday in the TV program Knevel and Van den Brink. About 60 percent of his followers are vaccinated, he estimated.

Van der Staaij is against forced vaccination. That gives unpleasant situations, he fears, and it works counterproductive. Moreover, 'it enters too deeply into the personal life’, says van der Staaij.

Van der Staay thinks the calls of politicians, to get people to vaccinate their children, must stop. This is the view of many in the Reformed society.

Mark Rutte is blamed, by various referends, that his slightly religiously tinged message from Friday, has reached the limit of what is permissible for a politician

Number of measles patients rises

The number of reports of people infected with the measles, has now risen to 321. Last week that was about 230 cases. This was reported by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) on Thursday.

The RIVM thinks that there are signs that this number is a large underestimation of the actual number of cases. The actual number of measles cases is probably far higher, since not all patients go to the doctor.

Compared to a week before, there were 8 new hospitalizations. This week also shows, for the first time, an infection in the Twente region.

In the Zeeland region the number of infections has increased remarkably. The measles epidemic is concentrated in the so-called Bible Belt. There are many people of Reformed denomination who, for their faith, don’t allow vaccination. Almost all people who are infected - especially children between 4 and 12 years old - are not vaccinated against the disease.