The public health agency RIVM is concerned about a rapid rise in the number of newborn babies falling ill with whooping cough.

In recent weeks around 110 children, including 20 babies, have been diagnosed with the disease, which can be fatal in newborns. The level is higher than the most recent peak of infections in 2012.

Tjalling Leenstra, head of national co-ordination for infectious disease control, said the outbreak was concentrated in the Bible Belt, where vaccination rates are lower than in the rest of the country.

“We are especially concerned about the increase among young children and newborns, because whooping cough can have a severe effect on them,” he told NOS.

“For example, babies can stop breathing, which can lead to oxygen deprivation and brain damage.”

Babies are vaccinated against whooping cough for the first time at the age of six weeks, with three further injections in the first year and a booster at the age of four.

However, last year the RIVM said childhood vaccination rates had dropped below 90%, while more than 6% of babies born in 2020 had not received a single jab.

A vaccination rate of 95% is seen as the minimum level for herd immunity against diseases such as whooping cough and measles.