The number of children being vaccinated against infectious diseases on the Wadden Islands is alarmingly low.
Translation by Traci White
Omrop Fryslân writes that, according to a report by the Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, immunisation coverage on the islands, the majority of which are in the province of Friesland, is below 80 percent this year. That is well below the Dutch national average of 90.2 percent, which is itself just barely within the recommended level of 90 to 95 percent vaccination coverage to ensure herd immunity.
Christa Oosterbaan, the labour faction leader on Terschelling, told Omrop Fryslân that the low numbers are alarming. She told the Frisian broadcaster that it is not clear what the underlying reason is for the lower-than-average coverage and urged on parents on the islands to vaccinate their children, but stopped short of calling for vaccines to be made mandatory.
NRC recently reported that lower-than-average vaccination levels have also been observed in Flevoland, Bergen and the so-called Dutch Bible Belt, which consists of dozens of municipalities from Zeeland through Overijssel with higher concentrations of Calvinist Protestants.
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