URK, Netherlands:
In the Dutch coastal town of Urk, many people are still raised with a few core
beliefs: God, fishing and refusing to be vaccinated. Located in the
conservative Protestant "Bible Belt" of the Netherlands, Urk suffered
a measles outbreak in June because of low vaccination rates.

But as the World
Health Organization warns of a measles surge across Europe, there are hopes
that Urk can show how to turn things around. "At this point vaccination is
60 percent and that's low compared with the rest of the country. We are the
second-lowest in the Netherlands," Freek Brouwer, the Urk town councillor
for health told AFP at his office. Like other Bible Belt towns, Urk is part of
the Dutch Orthodox Reformed Church, and religion plays a strong part in daily
life, alongside its traditional mainstay fishing industry.

Ninety-four
percent of people in Urk regularly go to church, which has traditionally
opposed television, movies-and vaccination. "It's the idea that you cannot
do it because it is God who will take care of us-it's also the same with
insurance," says Brouwer, a member of the Dutch Christian Democratic
party, who is also a board member of the provincial public health service.

But these days
religion is less of a factor than it used to be when it comes to vaccines, he
says. "Previously it had a lot to do with deeply religious motives, and I
respect that. Now we see it has much more to do with habit-'Mom and dad did not
vaccinate, so why should I'?" "The reverends and the preachers from
the churches that are against it, they don't preach it, they leave it to the
people themselves."

'God is in
charge'

Urk is only 80
kilometers (50 miles) from Amsterdam but culturally it is far more distant from
the liberal capital, where prostitution is legal and cannabis is sold openly.
Seventy years ago Urk was still an island, before being joined to the Dutch
mainland by a huge land reclamation project. It retains its own dialect, and
much of its isolated mentality. On a busy market day by the harbor, many Urk
residents insisted religion was still the reason some people opposed
immunization.

"My children
have been vaccinated. But I think it's a personal thing for everybody,"
said Yvonne Verbaan, 44.  "But also,
last week I read about a young boy who was also vaccinated but suffered an
epileptic fit afterwards and had brain damage because of it. That does make you
think whether it is a good thing."

Shopping with her
two sons, Jacoba Zoer, 37, agreed that "vaccination is a good thing and I
have had my kids vaccinated." Asked why people don't vaccinate on Urk, she
replied: "People's religion is against it. They say God is in charge and
'He will save me when I get ill'. I also think it (vaccination) is more
controversial, not only on Urk."

The Dutch
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment recorded 42 cases of
measles in the Netherlands in 2019 so far-compared with 24 in all of 2018. A
measles outbreak in 2013-14 hit the Dutch Bible Belt, killing one child,
hospitalising 182 children, and officially affecting 2,700 others, though
officials said the actual number was much higher because many did not go to the
doctor.

'Lot of fake
news'

Councillor
Brouwer meanwhile also blamed the internet for spreading 'anti-vaxxer' ideas.
"What we also see is that people are thinking 'this is poison, it is going
to cause autism'-a lot of fake news," he said. When nine children and one
adult came down with measles in June, he said it was a "positive
surprise" that many people came for free vaccinations offered by the
government.

"But there
were also people I know whose children got measles and didn't go to the
doctor-they said 'it's over in one or two weeks and they're not sick any more',
so the number must be a little bit bigger." Brouwer rejected the idea of
making measles vaccination compulsory, as Germany has done, saying the goal was
to better inform parents.

"People have
to make their own choices based on the correct information-something like that
must never be forced because people will resist," he said.

In Urk, doctors
are advising pregnant women, local authorities have held information evenings
for parents, and they have distributed a newsletter with interviews left
disabled by polio before the government introduced vaccinations. "We do it
step by step," said Brouwer. "It cannot be in a year that we are
going to 90 percent, but if we go 10 or 20 percent higher, it's good for us to
have those kinds of goals." - AFP