Vaccinations
The Standing Committee on Immunisation at the Robert Koch Institute (STIKO) publishes its recommendations on vaccinations and measures to prevent communicable diseases once a year. If necessary, updates to the recommendations are also published during the year.
After basic immunisation in infancy or early childhood, the STIKO recommends regular booster vaccinations for individual vaccinations in order to maintain the necessary vaccination protection.
Responsible authority
- Your doctor in private practice, especially family doctors and paediatricians
- for certain vaccinations such as COVID-19 and influenza, other vaccination centres such as pharmacies
- occupational health facilities, if applicable
- the public health department (for counselling)
is the public health department,- if you live in the city districts of Stuttgart, Mannheim or Heilbronn: the respective city administration
- otherwise: the district administration
Contact
Details
Prerequisite
- Examination of the individual necessity of each vaccination
- suitable state of health of the person to be vaccinated
Procedure
Contact your family doctor or, if necessary, another vaccination centre, such as a pharmacy. They will provide information about the vaccination and vaccinate you.
Vaccinations at certain stages of life:
- Vaccinations for infants, children and adolescents: The vaccinations recommended for infants, children and adolescents by the Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) can be found in their recommendations, which are published once a year. The immunisation calendar for infants, children and adolescents is part of these recommendations and provides a quick overview of the recommended vaccinations.
- Vaccinations for employees: The company doctor will provide information on vaccinations due to an increased occupational risk, for example following a risk assessment in accordance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act / Biological Substances Ordinance / Ordinance on Occupational Health Care (ArbMedVV) and / or for the protection of third parties in the context of occupational activity.
- Vaccinations during pregnancy: Pregnancy is not a contraindication for inactivated vaccines such as influenza, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, hepatitis A and B. Vaccination against influenza and whooping cough is strongly recommended for pregnant women. Vaccinations with a live vaccine, such as against rubella, measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) or varicella, are generally not to be carried out during pregnancy.
Vaccinations that have been carried out are entered in a yellow vaccination card. You can obtain the immunisation record from your family doctor.
If you have lost your immunisation record, you can obtain a new one from your GP. Only the doctor who vaccinated you at the time may enter previous vaccinations in your vaccination record.
Note: Vaccinations are also documented in your patient file. Patient records are kept for at least 10 years.
Any doctor, pharmacist or public health department may make additions to your vaccination record, i.e. transfer information, for example from an old vaccination record or from a vaccination certificate that was issued as a replacement.
Deadlines
The STIKO publishes its recommendations on when vaccination is recommended. Your family doctor can advise you on this.
Required documents
none
Costs
The costs of publicly recommended vaccinations are covered by health insurance.
Some insurers also cover the costs of travel vaccinations and vaccinations given after the recommended age.
Miscellaneous
If you have a vaccination card, please bring it with you to your vaccination appointment.
Legal basis
Infektionsschutzgesetz (IfSG):
- § 20 Impfung
- § 22 Impf-, Genesenen- und Testdokumentation
Bekanntmachung des Sozialministeriums überöffentlich empfohlene Schutzimpfungen
Release note
machine generated, based on the German release by: Sozialministerium Baden-Württemberg, 03.04.2025