Short term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on incidence of vaccine preventable diseases and participation in routine infant vaccinations in the Netherlands in the period March-September 2020

•Incidence of several VPDs decreased after the implementation of COVID-19 response measures.•Most likely reason is reduced transmission due to social distancing/school closure.•MMR1 vaccinations scheduled in March-September 2020 were somewhat delayed.•MMR1 participation showed a rather quick although not yet complete catch-up. We aimed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) and participation in the routine infant vaccination programme in the Netherlands. The incidence of various VPDs initially decreased by 75–97% after the implementation of the Dutch COVID-19 response measures. The participation in the first measles-mumps-rubella vaccination among children scheduled for vaccination in March-September 2020 initially dropped by 6–14% compared with the previous year. After catch-up vaccination, a difference in MMR1 participation of −1% to −2% still remained. Thus, the pandemic has reduced the incidence of several VPDs and has had a limited impact on the routine infant vaccination programme.