Jaap van Dissel appointed Commander in the Order of Orange-Nassau | Domestic

“Jaap van Dissel is retiring well after a long and rich career,” Rutte writes on X. “In all these years he has achieved and done an enormous amount for public health.”

Van Dissel became famous during the corona pandemic. He was chairman of the Outbreak Management Team (OMT). The OMT and RIVM advised the cabinet on tackling the corona pandemic and these advices were often followed. Van Dissel was also often seen at press conferences where new measures were explained. The RIVM director received several (death) threats from people who disagreed with the corona approach.

During the corona period, Van Dissel was an “unflappable rock in the surf” for the cabinet, Rutte writes. “An inexhaustible source of knowledge and facts, even if we sometimes preferred not to hear them. He just kept explaining it politely and patiently. To us, to the Chamber, to the whole of the Netherlands.”

An interview with Jaap van Dissel can be read on Friday on NU.nl now that he has retired.

The Royal Decoration of Commander in Order of Orange-Nassau is not common. To receive this, someone must have performed very special or important activities, reports the Chancellery of the Dutch Orders, which advises during the awarding of ribbons.

The ribbon was awarded twice in 2024, to Jaap van Dissel and former ASML CEO Peter Wennink. In 2023, former cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten received the award. In 2022, the ribbon was awarded to former CDA politician Ernst Hirsch Ballin, former KLM director Pieter Elbers, former governor of Sint Maarten Eugene Holiday and former skater Ireen Wüst.

The General Occasion for presenting Royal awards – the ribbon shower – will take place this year on Friday, April 26.