The measures to combat the A(H1N1) flu epidemic in the Netherlands may have been excessive, according to the head of the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Jim van Steenbergen.

Writing on mednet.nl, a website for doctors, he says the response to the swine flu pandemic may have been over the top. Eight months after the outbreak began, millions of people in the Netherlands have been vaccinated, yet compared to a normal, seasonal flu outbreak, there have been few fatalities.

Mr Van Steenbergen says the government did what was necessary given the information available. However, he says that early virus detection and the growing possibilities to make preparations bring with them a risk of overreaction.

On Christmas Eve the health research institute Nivel announced that the flu epidemic in the Netherlands was over. The outbreak lasted ten weeks, the average length of a seasonal flu epidemic.

Dutch toddler given flu vaccination - ANP