VVD and D66 MPs have proposed a law which would require daycare centres to ban unvaccinated children if the national vaccination rate drops below 92%.

Vaccination rates for potentially dangerous and infectious childhood illnesses such as measles and whooping cough have been falling for years in the Netherlands.

The RIVM public health institute has said that vaccination rates this year are similar to last year’s when the rate dropped to below 90%. The recommended level in the Netherlands is 95%.

Six babies died of whooping cough in the first six months of this year and there has also been a spate of measles outbreaks.

Local efforts to convince parents to have their children vaccinated are not enough, VVD and D66 MPs said. Parents should “contribute to overall protection and take do their responsibility for the country’s collective health”, the proposal states.

The proposed law falls shy of a legal obligation for parents to join the vaccination programme but says if the vaccinations fall below a critical level, creches should refuse children.

“Childcare organisations and parents have been asking us to do this,” D66 MP Wieke Paulusma told broadcaster RTL. Parents need to know that if they bring their children who have not yet been fully vaccinated to daycare that they will not be infected by unvaccinated children, she said.

It is not clear if a majority of MPs will support the initiative. In 2022, a similar proposal did not make it into law because the senate voted against it.