Vaccinations are of particular importance for the health of individuals and the entire population. After all, if a great many people are vaccinated, it is possible to eliminate individual pathogens regionally and ultimately eradicate them worldwide. In Germany, however, vaccination is not compulsory. The permanent vaccination commission – abbreviated STIKO – consists of 16 experts appointed by the Federal Minister of Health. They meet twice a year to deal with important health policy issues concerning vaccinations and infectious diseases and to issue corresponding guidelines. The STIKO is based at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin. Commission members are appointed to their honorary positions for 3 years at a time.
STIKO recommendations
The STIKO recommendations are the most important source of information for vaccinating physicians and reflect the latest scientific findings. A distinction is made between two vaccination regimens:
- Standard vaccinations. These vaccinations, which should be given to everyone with very rare exceptions, are for individual protection and public health. Among the best known standard vaccinations are tetanus, diphtheria and polio.
- Indication vaccinations for specific groups of people with increased risk. The indication may relate to occupational exposure, risk of infection within risk groups, contact with a pathogen or contact with diseased persons. An example is TBE vaccination for forest workers to protect against early summer meningoencephalitis, which is transmitted by ticks. However, this also includes travel vaccinations that are required by international regulations (yellow fever), national entry regulations or are applied for the personal protection of the traveler.
Vaccination recommendations are a matter for each country
The recommendations of the STIKO serve the federal states as a template for their own public vaccination recommendations. In fact, they only become legally effective once they have been incorporated by the highest state health authorities in the individual states into their “public recommendations.” To find out which vaccination recommendations are valid in your state, contact your state health department, for example.
