On this page you will find a review of the circulation of the influenza virus in the Netherlands during the respiratory season 2025/2026. We describe how often the virus occurred, how this compared to previous seasons, and which virus variants and vaccine composition played a role.

Newborn babies have a higher risk of serious consequences from flu, such as hospital admission. If the mother gets the flu vaccine during pregnancy, the baby is less likely to get the flu after being born. The flu vaccine also helps pregnant women directly. Pregnant women who have flu are more likely to need hospital admission than women of the same age who have flu and are not pregnant. The flu vaccine is safe for babies and for pregnant women.This information in multiple languages

Because most respiratory infections occur mainly in the winter, the data are presented for a respiratory season or a respiratory year. A respiratory year runs from week 40 of one year through week 39 of the following year. A respiratory season runs from week 40 of one year through week 20 of the following year. On this page, the data for 2024/2025 are limited to the respiratory season. More background information about the different surveillance sources can be found in the document 'Background and methods of the respiratory surveillance 2024/2025'.

This page describes the surveillance of influenza in the Netherlands during the respiratory season 2023/2024. Since most respiratory infections occur mainly in winter, the data are presented for a respiratory season or a respiratory year. A respiratory season runs from week 40 of one year to week 20 of the following year. A respiratory year runs from week 40 of one year to week 39 of the following year. In this retrospect, the data from the respiratory year 2023/2024 is limited to the respiratory season. For more details on the various surveillance sources, see the background and method document on respiratory surveillance for 2023/2024. 

On this page you can find information about vaccinations during pregnancy in multiple languages.

Frequently asked questions and answers about pregnancy and the flu vaccine.

Flu vaccination during pregnancy is safe for you and your baby. Extensive research has confirmed this. Since 2021, pregnant women have been able to get the flu vaccine in the Netherlands. The rest of the world approved it much earlier, and experiences have been positive.

RIVM monitors the development of the flu virus in various ways. We call this ‘surveillance’. As part of these efforts, we work closely with Nivel, Erasmus University Medical Center (Erasmus MC) and laboratories in the Netherlands. We track how many people there are in the Netherlands with flu-like symptoms and look at which type of flu virus is most prevalent.

Flu is an infectious disease that affects the respiratory system. It is caused by the influenza (flu) virus.