The Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO) now officially recommends a second corona booster vaccination for people over 60 years of age. People in this age group and over the age of five with an increased risk of severe Covid 19 courses as a result of an underlying disease should receive another booster, the committee said on Thursday. The STIKO is expanding its previous recommendation “with the primary goal of protecting particularly vulnerable people even better from severe Covid 19 diseases and Covid 19-related deaths”.
Another booster, preferably with an mRNA vaccine, after “three immunological events” is advisable – for example after primary immunization and the first booster vaccination or primary immunization and Sars-CoV-2 infection. The condition for the second booster vaccination from the age of 60 is usually that the first booster vaccination or the last corona infection was at least six months ago. According to STIKO, the interval can only be reduced to four months in justified individual cases.
So far, the commission had already recommended the second booster to the following groups: people over the age of 70, people in care facilities, people with immunodeficiency and people at increased risk of severe Covid 19 courses, as well as employees in medical facilities and care facilities.
The committee now emphasized that a second booster vaccination in the extended group “continues to achieve a very high level of protection against severe Covid 19 courses” for these people. The risk groups mentioned should therefore not wait for a vaccine adapted to the omicron variant and postpone vaccination, it said.
No vaccination recommendation for people under 60 and people who have already been in contact with the virus four times
For the time being, healthy people under the age of 60 are not explicitly advised to take another booster. “According to the current state of knowledge, this group of people would not benefit significantly from another vaccine dose.” An exception is the staff in medical facilities and care facilities, for which the second booster is already recommended, according to the STIKO