Gov't pushing better local information on vaccines after measles outbreaks

State Secretary Vincent Karremans (Prevention) wants people to have easier access to good information about vaccinations and their importance in their own neighborhoods. There is already a neighborhood-oriented approach for this, but he wants to strengthen it, the VVD Minister announced. Earlier on Wednesday, the RIVM reported a sharp increase in measles cases in the Netherlands.

Karremans wants to “do everything he can” to ensure that more people have their children vaccinated against infectious diseases. “I do not wish to accept that a disease like measles increasingly occurs in 2025. That would undo the progress that medical science has made.”

He stressed that a low vaccination rate mainly poses a risk to children, especially vulnerable ones. “By having your child vaccinated, you not only protect your own child, but also those of others.”

That is why it is important that people have confidence in vaccinations, he said. The government has already set aside extra money for a neighborhood-oriented approach. The aim is for people to have conversations about vaccinations in their own neighborhoods, receive reliable information, and easily have their children vaccinated on the spot.