Measuring vaccination coverage in a hard to reach minority.

Background: Although childhood vaccination programmes have been very successful, there are some hard to reach minority groups that object to vaccination. The Netherlands has experienced several epidemics of vaccine-preventable diseases, confined to the orthodox Protestant minority. However, vaccination coverage in this minority is still unknown and this hampers prevention and control of epidemics.

Information on vaccination: meeting the needs of unvaccinated youngsters in the Netherlands.

To improve vaccination coverage in the Netherlands, compulsory consultation of the youth health service has been suggested for unvaccinated youngsters. It is assumed that sound medical arguments will convince them to accept vaccination. We assessed the need for information of the highest risk group, the unvaccinated orthodox protestant youngsters.