Whooping cough & measles cases rising; Politicians demand action over vaccine rates

More than 50 people have been diagnosed with measles in an ongoing outbreak, and the per capita rate of whooping cough infections among young children is soaring. Politicians debated the issue of declining vaccination rates in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Parliament, on Thursday. Vaccination rates have dipped below key levels necessary to keep preventable infections at bay.

The amount of measles cases is seven times more than the whole of 2023. The health institute RIVM is worried about the declining vaccination rates.

Dutch politicians share their worries. Outgoing State Secretary of Health Maarten van Ooijen has developed measures to combat the declining vaccination rates. The measures are supposed by most politicians in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch Parliament.

However, not all parties are in agreement with the measures. Especially the liberal parties VVD and D66 want to see more vigor from the Christen-Unie politician.

MP Wieke Paulusma of D66 claimed that the letter Van Ooijen sent earlier this week contained “a lot of intention but not much action.” Paulusma told her colleagues in a debate that his propositions to use doctors as influencers and to counteract the misinformation on social media about vaccinations are mainly about him looking to others for help.

Paulusma wants to hear from Van Ooijen how he is going to make it easier for people to get their children vaccinated locally against dangerous children’s diseases.

The “doubt telephone,” a telephone number that parents can call from the summer onwards to answer their questions about vaccinations, should be open now, the MP added.

Judith Tielen of the VVD also criticized Van Ooijen’s approach, saying it “lacks energy.” She added that in some villages, only half of the children are vaccinated. “Education is necessary now,” she said.

Tielen thinks that protecting your children against severe diseases by having them vaccinated should be as normal as “a stair gate, a car seat, or swimming lessons.”

The VVD and D66 want to give daycare centers the option to refuse unvaccinated children should the vaccination rate fall below a certain level. This way, parents of children who are still too young to have received all of their injections can still bring them to daycare with peace of mind. They are then better protected by herd immunity.

But that proposal is meeting resistance from other parties. NSC MP Daniëlle Jansen argued the lack of trust is a result of failed government policy. She said parents should not be blamed for this. Senior BBB MP Mona Keijzer was also strongly opposed to the measure. She accused D66, in particular, of pitting groups of parents against each other in this way.

In 2021, Keijzer was fired from her Cabinet when she publicly criticized the coronavirus access pass policy introduced by the third Cabinet of Prime Minister Mark Rutte. She was the State Secretary of Economic Affairs, and a member of CDA three years ago. She said at the time, “If you’ve ended up in a society where you have to be afraid of each other unless you can show proof, then you really have to scratch your head and ask yourself, ‘Do we want to go this way?’”

The number of whooping cough cases among young children is also increasing. Around 31 per 100,000 children of four years and younger had to visit the doctor last week due to the disease. That is the highest number in the previous few years, as shown by the weekly numbers from the research institute Nivel.

Whooping cough is very contagious and causes coughing fits that can last for months. The infections can lead to a lung infection.

The disease is hazardous for babies. The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment reported several weeks ago that at least four babies died of whooping cough in February and March.

It is uncommon that there are this many deaths so early in the year from the disease. Usually, there are only a few deaths for the whole year.