Since 2009, RIVM has been monitoring how many people die in the Netherlands per week. The number of deaths (referred to as mortality) is monitored based on data from Statistics Netherlands (CBS). This enables RIVM to assess how mortality is affected by unique circumstances, such as an outbreak of an infectious disease. RIVM publishes these figures on its website on a weekly basis.
What research has RIVM done on the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccinations?
Over the course of 2021 and 2022, RIVM conducted research on the COVID-19 vaccinations and mortality. RIVM studied how well the vaccinations protect against death from COVID-19. RIVM also studied the risk of people dying of something other than COVID-19 after receiving a COVID-19 vaccination. The first study, covering 2021, is described in chapters 5 and 6 of a report jointly published by RIVM and Statistics Netherlands and in a scientific article. RIVM also published a report on the second study, covering 2022 (in Dutch).
To promote research on this topic by various scientists, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) has asked the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMW) to make funding available to a variety of research groups. One of these research groups is active at the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (Nivel). This group published the results of its own study on the correlation between the COVID-19 vaccinations and mortality (in Dutch).