Over the past few months, about three-quarters of infants in the Netherlands have had an injection against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). As a result, there have been significantly fewer babies admitted to children’s intensive care units (ICU). In the 2024-2025 season, a total of 178 infants had been admitted to ICU due to RSV infections by the start of February. In this season, there have been 43 infant ICU admissions for RSV so far. Since September 2025, an injection against RSV has been included in the National Immunisation Programme.

The percentage of babies and toddlers that were vaccinated in the framework of the National Immunisation Programme appears to have decreased slightly compared to last year. During the same period, there was a clear increase in vaccination coverage for the HPV vaccination, which children receive around the age of 10 years.

From 20 November on, data from National Immunisation Programme will be available through the client portal provided by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM): Mijn.RIVM.nl . The data can also be accessed through five personal digital health environments qualified for this purpose.

Starting in 2025, the vaccination schedule used in the National Immunisation Programme for children will be updated. The changes apply to four scheduled vaccination times. This offers children even better protection against infectious diseases, such as measles and whooping cough.

Babies develop fewer antibodies against pertussis (whooping cough) if the mother is given the pertussis vaccine before the 24th week of pregnancy. These findings are from a multi-year study carried out by RIVM among preterm and full-term babies and their mothers.

The percentage of babies and toddlers that were vaccinated in the framework of the National Immunisation Programme remained about the same compared to last year. In children aged 9 years and older, vaccination coverage continued to decrease for most of the national childhood immunisations.

Repeating vaccination promotes whooping cough resistance. This is evidenced by the PhD research conducted by Pauline Versteegen. She researched post-vaccination immunity to whooping cough in age groups from 7 to 70 years. On Tuesday 28 May, she was awarded her doctoral degree at Utrecht University.

The number of newborn babies in the Netherlands who are seriously ill due to whooping cough has been increasingly rapidly in recent weeks. About 110 confirmed cases of whooping cough are now being diagnosed every week among children in the Netherlands, including nearly 20 infants.

This week saw the start of babies being vaccinated against the rotavirus. This vaccination is included in the Dutch National Immunisation Programme as of this year. All parents of babies born on or after 1 January 2024 will receive an invitation for this.