Is flu going around in the Netherlands?

Flu activity in the Netherlands typically begins rising in late December, peaks between January and March, and eases through April. The peak tends to arrive slightly later than in some neighbouring countries. The Nivel Primary Care Database and the Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu (RIVM) together monitor the curve and publish weekly surveillance updates.

RIVM publishes weekly surveillance in collaboration with Nivel and the Erasmus MC national reference laboratory. Indicators include Nivel sentinel GP consultations for ILI, virological positivity, and hospital admissions for severe acute respiratory infection. Activity is described in qualitative bands against historical thresholds, and the Dutch curve is also reported to the ECDC European Respiratory Virus Surveillance Summary (ERVISS) for cross-country comparison.

The Dutch system centres on two pillars. Nivel runs a sentinel GP network that collects weekly ILI consultation data and submits nose-and-throat swabs for testing at Erasmus MC and RIVM. Hospital-based surveillance adds severe acute respiratory infection admissions. RIVM integrates these streams into its weekly respiratory-virus bulletin and supplies harmonised indicators to the ECDC ERVISS platform.

The Nationaal Programma Grieppreventie offers a free annual flu vaccine to adults aged 60 and over and to people with certain chronic conditions, regardless of age. Most vaccinations take place at GP practices in October and November. RIVM publishes coverage figures each season alongside weekly surveillance, and vaccination timing is deliberately aligned with the typical January–March Dutch flu peak.

Each season depends on the dominant influenza subtype and accumulated immunity. Nivel and RIVM compare current indicators against recent seasons, and ECDC ERVISS provides a European view. The Netherlands has seen both short, sharp peaks and extended, moderate curves. Weekly bulletins make clear whether current activity sits above or below the recent historical baseline.