From 1 June 2022, the heel prick test for Dutch newborns will also screen for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). SMA is a serious hereditary muscle condition. Detecting this disease at an early stage enables early treatment.

After recording 80,000 tick bites in 10 years via Tekenradar.nl, we now know that you are most likely to be bitten by a tick in Drenthe. Quickly removing the tick halves the chance of contracting Lyme disease.

Participation in the vaccinations against mumps, measles and rubella (MMR) and diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), tetanus and polio) (DTaP-IPV) has decreased slightly among infants (-1%).

Now not only girls, but also boys will have the opportunity to protect themselves from cancer caused by HPV.

More than a quarter of people with Lyme disease continue to have long-term symptoms that lead to limitations in daily life even after treatment.

National immunisation coverage has increased for the first time in five years, for almost all vaccinations. For children born in 2017, vaccination coverage against mumps, measles and rubella (MMR) increased by 0.7% to 93.6%.

For the first time in five years, the number of children receiving vaccinations from the National Immunisation Programme has increased slightly.

Every year about 1.5 million ticks bite someone in the Netherlands, especially between March and October. Most people will not get sick of that.

Nearly all infants in the Netherlands are still participating in the National Immunisation Programme.

The percentage of newborns participating in the immunisation programme targeting mumps, measles and rubella rose slightly over the past year.