Rotterdam organizing extra vaccination rounds against measles to combat outbreak

Children in Rotterdam who have not been vaccinated against measles yet can receive a vaccination against the disease soon. The Centre for Children and Families is looking into organizing “extra vaccination hours for the whole region,” said the GGD Rotterdam-Rijnmond. The dates are not known as of yet.

This is being organized due to a measles outbreak. There have been at least 158 cases since the beginning of the year in the Netherlands. More than 40 cases are linked to a primary school in Rotterdam. It has been determined that the students at this school will have extra vaccination hours, as will their brothers and sisters.

The school Risala in the Feijenoord district falls under the Stichting Islamic Primair Onderwijs Rijnmond (SIPOR). They announced that the school reopened on Tuesday after being closed for about a week. Around 40 pupils were given a measles jab last week during a special vaccination afternoon.

In Bussum, a vaccination period started on Tuesday for children aged 2 to 18 from the Gooi en Vechtstreek region. That round runs until Friday.

The GGD in the western part of Noord-Brabant has no plans for additional vaccination rounds. But “children who missed an earlier vaccination” are welcome during the vaccination days that were already planned for this period. This also applies to children in the regions of Noord and Oost-Gelderland, Gelderland-Zuid, and Zaanstreek-Waterland.

The GGD in Kennemerland has not yet detected any measles cases and, therefore, does not consider an extra vaccination session necessary. The GGDs in Groningen, Friesland, Zuid-Limburg, and Hart voor Brabant also see no reason for additional vaccination rounds.

According to the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), dozens of people picked up measles during a trip to Morocco. There is currently a large epidemic of the disease in the African nation.

This led to the GGD in Noord-Holland developing a flyer for the Moroccan community. This was then issued to mosques and neighborhood mothers.