RIVM Newsletter Issue 2, 5 July 2022 |
| SARS-CoV-2 infections continue to rise | Infections with the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in the Netherlands continued to rise in the last week of June. This increase is seen in sewage surveillance and in the infections reported to the Municipal Public Health Services (GGDs). Following the upward trend in infections, the number of hospital admissions also rose last week. Read more. | COVID-19 vaccination figures | Up to and including Sunday 26 June 2022, more than 2.2 million repeat vaccinations have been administered in the Netherlands. People aged 60 years and older, people living in nursing homes, and people with severely impaired immunity are eligible to get a repeat vaccination against COVID-19 three months after their booster jab or three months after a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Vaccination coverage for the repeat vaccination among people over 60 has now reached 45.7%. For the past two weeks, the weekly number of repeat vaccinations has been increasing. Read more. | Nearly twice as many cases involving long-term symptoms after COVID-19 | Three months after infection with the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, almost half of people still report one or more long-term symptoms, such as fatigue, difficulty concentrating and loss of smell. This is almost twice as often as people who did not have COVID-19, and more than 1.5 times as often as people who had other respiratory infections. This is evident from the interim results of the RIVM Long COVID study. Read more. | Healthcare and healthy lifestyle | Flu vaccination also available for pregnant women as of this autumn | Every year, people aged 60 and over and people with certain medical conditions can get the free flu vaccination. On the recommendation of the Health Council of the Netherlands, the free flu vaccination will now also be made available to pregnant women. They can get the flu vaccination from their GP later this year. From 2023, all pregnant women will get an invitation from their midwife or gynaecologist during flu season. Read more. | Pupils in secondary school less happy than before the COVID-19 crisis | Pupils in the second and fourth years of secondary school in the Netherlands felt less happy in 2021 than before the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, in 2019. This is evident from the COVID-19 Youth Health Monitor 2021. The results of this study give reason to focus additional attention on mental health and appropriate measures. Read more. | Seven e-cigarette flavourings with tobacco-taste pose health risk | The Dutch government only wants to allow 23 e-cigarette flavourings with a tobacco-taste. RIVM examined whether these 23 flavourings are harmful to people’s health. Seven of the flavourings were found to be potentially harmful. RIVM has advised the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport to ban these flavourings. Read more. | Tailor-made information helps immigrants decide about taking part in screening programmes | Immigrants are relatively less likely to take part in preventive screening programmes, such as cancer screening. This is partly due to the language barrier and partly to a lack of knowledge, according to a doctoral thesis by Nora Hamdiui. Her conclusion is that more tailor-made and culturally sensitive information will help this group make decisions about taking part. The research was funded by RIVM and the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonM). Read more. | Safe, clean and healthy environment | Limited consideration of combined effects when granting SVHC permits | The harmful effect of a combination of Substances of Very High Concern may be greater than the effect of each individual substance. Very limited consideration is given to such combined effects when issuing permits. It is also not established how many airborne SVHCs ultimately enter the soil or water from the air. These findings came from of an exploratory study by RIVM that includes recommendations for the permit granting process. Read more. | Current knowledge on microplastics in the soil is still inadequate | A literature review by RIVM has concluded that reliable standard techniques should be developed to analyse microplastics in the soil. Until such techniques are available, researchers will be unable to carry out reliable analyses into what effects the presence of microplastics in our soil has on human health. It is partly for this reason that our knowledge is incomplete and any potentially harmful effects cannot be sufficiently identified. Read more. | Proposal to Dutch government for a research programme on climate change and health effects | The climate is changing and this process is already affecting the health of people in the Netherlands. As such, it is important to take immediate action to prepare the Netherlands and its population for climate change and to reduce the effects on health. However, governments will not be able to take appropriate measures without knowledge of the health effects of climate change. RIVM has therefore drawn up an overview of the gaps in knowledge about the health effects of climate change. Read more. | Collaboration necessary to ensure the safe reuse of consumer products | The Dutch government aims to have established a fully circular economy by 2050. This will reduce the volume of (new) raw materials and mitigate environment impact. However, recycled products must be safe for consumers. As a result, it is vital to know whether materials and products contain hazardous substances and, if so, whether this could have consequences for the health of consumers. In this research project, RIVM has set out the expected developments and possible risks. Read more. | Preventing and controlling infectious diseases | Monkeypox continues spreading | As of 30 June 2022, there were 258 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the Netherlands. The number of new daily infections seems to be slowly increasing. The highest number of people who tested positive for the virus were found in Amsterdam. The number of people with monkeypox is still relatively low and the disease has a long incubation period, which makes it difficult to predict how the outbreak will develop. However, it seems unlikely that the infection rate will decrease in the near future. Read more. | Antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance remain stable | Antimicrobial resistance in the Netherlands remained stable in 2021 compared with the five previous years. This is evident from the 2022 annual NethMap/MARAN report. This report includes data on antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance, in both humans and animals. Read more. | New crisis response organisation at RIVM to control future pandemics | The cabinet has agreed to the proposal of Ernst Kuipers, Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, to set up a National Functionality for Infectious Disease Control (LFI). This organisation will be part of RIVM. As a new national crisis response organisation, LFI will do two things: prepare for a future pandemic, and take responsibility for operational management of large-scale infectious disease control. Read more. | Vaccination against pathogenic meningococci is very effective | RIVM research shows that the vaccine against meningococci protects against all pathogenic forms of the meningococcus bacteria (types W, C and Y). This vaccine has been included in the National Immunisation Programme for toddlers and teenagers since 2018, following an outbreak of meningococcus W in the Netherlands in 2017-2018. Read more. | RIVM activities for Ukraine: donated medicines and focus on infectious diseases | RIVM donated medicines to Ukraine on two occasions. The first shipment mainly consisted of strong painkillers, saline solution and antibiotics. The second donation involved BCG vaccines. Also, a Ukrainian Refugee Response Team was assembled to assess the national and international situation in terms of infectious diseases among refugees. Read more. | Dedicated website with information for refugees from Ukraine | RIVM has developed a dedicated website for Ukrainian refugees in the Netherlands. This portal serves as a first point of access to our information about screening programmes, tuberculosis, vaccinations and more. The information is available in English, Ukrainian and Russian. Visit the website. | Launch of European Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC) | PARC, the European research and innovation programme was launched on 11 May 2022. The partnership seeks to develop next-generation chemical risk assessment, incorporating both human health and the environment in a One Health approach. It will help support the European Union's Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability and the European Green Deal's zero pollution ambition. RIVM is a partner in the programme, contributing expertise from projects such as EUROMIX and HBM4EU. Read more. | Sign up for our international newsletter and receive our news and updates straight to your mailbox. Please forward our newsletter to anyone who may be interested. Subscribe here | |