Child vaccination rate in The Hague plummets, prompting new targeted measures

The number of fully vaccinated children in The Hague continues to decline, and the vaccination rate is worryingly low in several districts, responsible alderman Hilbert Bredemeijer reported. The municipality is taking extra measures to try to get more kids vaccinated, but it is time that the national government realizes the urgency of this problem, he said, Omroep West reports.

The city district Centrum is at the bottom of the list for every kind of vaccination, the municipality's statistics published on Monday showed. In the Groente- en Fruitmarkt neighborhood, which falls under the Centrum district, less than 45 percent of children have been fully vaccinated. The Transvaal and Schilderswijk neighborhoods’ vaccination rate is also worryingly low.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a vaccination rate of around 90 percent for effective protection against infectious disease outbreaks. The Escamp and Laak districts are also far from this target. In addition to fewer kids getting vaccinated, the number of pregnant women getting vaccinated before giving birth to protect their unborn child against diseases like whooping cough is also falling.

Alderman Bredemeijer is horrified by the latest figures. “With such a low vaccination rate, The Hague and other major cities have fallen far short, and children are at great risk of contracting terrible infectious diseases,” he said.

The municipality is teaming up with midwives to inform pregnant women about the vaccines and, if desired, vaccinate them on the spot at the midwifery practice. A vaccination team will also visit a secondary school in the Transvaal district to give students there the opportunity to get their jabs.

However, according to Bredemeijer, these are just local patches on a national problem. Like he has done multiple times before, the alderman urged the national government to take action. “The Cabinet has no choice but to acknowledge that the situation has gotten completely out of hand. These figures are unacceptable, children are running enormous risks. Large cities really need more support and I make an urgent appeal to the Cabinet: please take action and help municipalities to protect children against infectious diseases.”