Earlier, a majority seemed to be in sight of the law, but it turned out not to be consistent. Various parties had serious doubts about the proposal, because daycare centers could also refuse children who could not be vaccinated for medical reasons.
Drawing board
D66 then returned to the drawing board and tightened the law on two points. Children who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons may not be refused in the new version of the law. “I thought it was entirely justified to repair that mesh,” Van Meenen says.
At the insistence of GroenLinks, D66 has also promised that the law will be evaluated after two years. If the law leads to undesirable situations in practice, they can be addressed.
After that adjustment, it appears that, in addition to D66, VVD, PVV, PvdA and Forum for Democracy also want to vote in favor of the bill. These parties also have a majority in the Senate.
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Looking for support
Paul van Meenen, who took care of the law after the initiator Rens Raemakers came home sick, has recently been actively seeking support for the law. He is happy that it is now.
“I think it’s quite something to allow parents who don’t want to vaccinate their child to a daycare center,” he says. “You want to hide under the umbrella, but do not want to release the umbrella yourself.”
Vaccination rate
In recent years, more and more parents have chosen not to have their children vaccinated. This led to various outbreaks of measles at day care centers. Figures from the RIVM recently showed that the vaccination rate for BMR (mumps, measles and rubella) increased slightly last year.
Responsible State Secretary Blokhuis saw that as ‘important signals that we are heading in the right direction’, but D66 still wants to bring the law to the vote.
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