The national health institute RIVM has admitted that its national campaign to get teenage girls to come forward for a vaccination against cervical cancer has flopped.

The average turnout was just 49%, compared with a target of 70%. RIVM director Roel Coutinho said scare stories on the internet were one of the reasons that girls stayed away.
The next campaign targeting 12-year-old girls will be done differently, he told the NRC.