The national immunisation programme in the Netherlands: current status and potential future developments

The national immunisation programme in the Netherlands is very effective and safe. To improve the success and effectiveness of the immunisation programme, vaccination of other (age)groups is indicated. Extension of the programme with new target diseases can result in considerable health gain for some diseases. The target diseases are largely under control. However, monitoring the effectiveness of the programme is important. Maintaining high vaccin uptake is vital to prevent (re)emergence of disease. Vaccination of (young) adults now (pertussis) and in the future (mumps, measles, rubella, hepatitis B) could give further improvement. Also other vaccination strategies need attention such as maternal or newborn vaccination for pertussis. The switch to a DTPa-IPV/Hib combination vaccine in 2005 should be monitored carefully both for pertussis and other components. The national immunisation programme could be extended with new target diseases. Pneumococcal vaccination for children is expected to give important health gain. The desirability to introduce varicella vaccination - possibly in combination with mumps, measles and rubella - needs further study. When effective and safe vaccines become available for meningococcal serogroup B, respiratory syncytial virus and human papillomavirus, extension of the immunisation programme might be advisable. Extension of the programme with available vaccines for influenza, hepatitis A or tuberculosis is not (yet) recommended. For these diseases the current policy needs to be continued, possibly with lowering the age of influenza vaccination from 65 years to 50 years of age. The desirability to vaccinate children against influenza needs additional investigation, like pneumococcal vaccination for elderly. Vaccination against HSV-2 or rotavirus is not possible yet. The health gain is expected to be limited for HSV-2. When a vaccine for rotavirus comes available a cost-effectiveness analysis is needed