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

From 16 December 2019, pregnant women in the Netherlands will be offered the 22-week vaccination. With this vaccination, a pregnant woman protects her child and herself against whooping cough.

In the first six months of 2019, the number of notified meningococcal serogroup W (MenW) disease cases decreased in almost all age groups, after a continuous increase since 2015.

Since the 1970s, European policies to improve air quality have resulted in fewer emissions in many countries.

The vaccine against the HPV human papillomavirus virus will also become available for boys.

A number of European countries are currently seeing outbreaks of measles. Before the start of the summer season, RIVM has therefore updated its immunisation recommendation for measles.

This spring, about 860,000 young people in the Netherlands will receive an invitation for a vaccination against meningococcal disease.

In 2017, concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter in most parts of the Netherlands were below European limit values.