Germany’s Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO) is examining the possibility of issuing a recommendation for everyone in the country to receive a COVID booster shot, regardless of risk factors. 

STIKO will make decision on booster jabs in a few weeks

“The Standing Vaccination Commission is currently examining very intensively whether it will recommend booster vaccinations for all population groups,” the chairperson of STIKO, Thomas Mertens, told the Funke Media Group. “A decision will be made in a few weeks.” 

Mertens added that there is data from international studies that speaks in favour of third jabs against COVID-19, but that the commission must examine the extent to which these results can be extrapolated to Germany. The decisive question is whether the additional shots will help to slow down the spread of the virus. 

The step came as the head of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, issued a call for younger people to also receive booster shots six month after their second vaccination. “Anyone who was fully vaccinated six months ago should get a booster vaccination soon,” he said. 

COVID booster shots in Germany

So far, Germany has stuck to relatively strict criteria as to who is eligible for booster shots, namely people over the age of 70, individuals with preexisting conditions making them vulnerable to COVID, and people working in professions (for instance in the healthcare system) that put them in close contact with vulnerable people. People who had a viral vector vaccine such as Johnson & Johnson or AstraZeneca first time around are also eligible for a top-up. 

On Monday, Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn called for Germany’s vaccination centres to be reopened to help with the booster jab rollout. He also indicated that, according to the country’s vaccination ordinance, anyone who wanted a booster jab could be entitled to one, after discussing the possibility with their doctor. 

This claim was criticised by the General Practitioners’ Association, which said that GP surgeries would quickly become overloaded if healthy people descended upon them en masse to get their additional shots. 

On Monday evening, Mertens said that it was most important to make sure that vulnerable people get their third shot first, adding that it was “impractical” to suggest that the entire population should now receive a third jab immediately.