The flu jab is offered free of charge every year to people aged 60 years and older, and to people who are at higher risk of becoming seriously ill from the flu virus due to medical reasons

The annual influenza epidemic in the winter of 2018-2019 was less severe than the year before. Approximately 400,000 people have had the flu.

The flu epidemic in the winter of 2014 / 2015 lasted 21 weeks and as such was the longest epidemic ever recorded in the Netherlands. Nearly two million people suffered from flu-like symptoms.