Crona hardly plays a role in everyday life anymore, which is why the Standing Vaccination Commission has revised its recommendations: Healthy children and young people should no longer receive a prick. Vaccination is only recommended for risk groups.
In view of the weakened corona situation, the Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO) no longer wants to recommend corona vaccination to healthy children and adolescents in Germany. This was announced by STIKO member Martin Terhardt on a draft decision by the panel of experts.
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The Standing Vaccination Committee has recommended the corona vaccination for small children with previous illnesses.
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Rarely severe courses in minors
The panel justifies the step with the “rarity of severe courses” in minors without previous illnesses. Potential long-term consequences of the infection (Long Covid) are also not an argument for the experts, since the risk has now fallen even further and has not completely disappeared even with the vaccination.
However, the STIKO emphasizes that there are no safety concerns when vaccinating healthy children and adolescents. This addition is important, said the immunologist Carsten Watzl: Some doctors wrongly interpreted the lack of vaccination recommendations as meaning that vaccination should not be carried out.
For healthy five to eleven year olds, the previous STIKO recommendation provides for a corona vaccine dose, for twelve to 17 year olds a basic immunization plus a booster vaccination.
Risk groups should be vaccinated annually
The situation is different for risk groups: people over the age of 60, residents of care facilities and people with certain previous illnesses from the age of six months, the STIKO recommends annual booster vaccinations. The preferred time is autumn, as known from the flu vaccination. A vaccine adapted to variants is to be used. At least twelve months should usually have passed since the last vaccination or infection. The aim is to prevent severe disease progression.
This booster recommendation also applies to people who work in medicine and care and therefore have an increased risk of infection.
STIKO member Christian Bogdan explained that a longer period of protection could also emerge in the future, so that it does not necessarily have to remain with the annual booster.
The measures in the fight against Corona are expiring, for Health Minister Lauterbach the pandemic is over.
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No vaccination recommendation for healthy people up to the age of 59
According to Terhardt, no further booster vaccinations are initially planned for healthy adults up to the age of 59. People from this group should have built up basic immunity: through at least two vaccinations plus booster vaccination or infection.
Sars-CoV-2 continues to circulate in the population, but severe courses have become significantly rarer due to the basic immunity achieved, explained the STIKO. This is “in particular a great success of the vaccination, but also partly the result of immunity through infections”. Nevertheless, Corona remains a risk, especially for older and previously ill people.
How do other experts rate the STIKO plans?
The clarity certainly helps the doctors, said Watzl, Secretary General of the German Society for Immunology, who is not a member of the STIKO. Plans for booster vaccinations for the fall are now also possible – on the premise that omicron or a similar virus variant will then prevail. “It’s also easy to convey to people: We are now making recommendations that are very similar to those for the flu vaccination,” said Watzl.
The first corona infection in Germany became known a good three years ago.
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Can I get vaccinated without a STIKO recommendation?
In principle, you can also get vaccinated without the recommendation. After the end of the crisis rules that have been in force for a long time, corona vaccinations are not yet available in all federal states directly at cash register costs. According to the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, in countries where remuneration is not yet regulated, patients initially receive a private invoice and can then submit it to the statutory health insurance fund for reimbursement.
The framework for entitlement to free vaccinations is now a guideline based on the STIKO recommendations. According to a federal ordinance, vaccinations are still possible at health insurance costs if a doctor deems it medically necessary.
General vaccination recommendations
With the planned innovations, STIKO is including the Covid-19 vaccination in its general vaccination recommendations for 2023. This is intended to take into account the development of basic immunity in the population and the properties of the virus. So far, the panel has made separate Covid 19 vaccination recommendations during the pandemic, which have been adjusted again and again – more than 20 times so far.
The current step can be seen as a kind of transition from pandemic to normal mode. The finished paper is expected in about two weeks. First of all, the federal states and specialist groups should be able to give feedback.
