The vaccination rate among children over the age of nine continues to fall, and the trend is worrying, public health institute RIVM said on Thursday.

The number of children vaccinated for diphtheria, tetanus and polio by the age of nine has gone down from 81.1% to 78.2.% and the take-up rate for the MMR jab for mumps, measles, and rubella has gone down by a similar amount to 78.5%, the RIVM said.

Rotterdam has the lowest vaccination rate of the four big cities. Nationwide, 83.1% of babies have had all the basic vaccinations but in Rotterdam the figure is just 74.6%. Just 62% of children are fully vaccinated in the port city by the age of nine.

But there has been no further decline in the vaccination rate among babies since the RIVM sounded the alarm last year, the government agency said.

In fact coverage for the MMR vaccination (mumps, measles and rubella) and for the vaccination against meningococcal disease types A, C, W and Y may even have increased.

The World Health Organisation considers 90% to be safe, but the RIVM takes 95% as its target.