The Interministerial Conference on Public Health has given the go-ahead for the basic COVID-19 vaccination of children aged 6 months to 4 years, and for the booster vaccination of children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 years. The decision was taken on the basis of advice from the Superior Health Council (SHC) and the Vaccination Task Force.
A primary vaccination course is recommended for children who are immunosuppressed or who suffer from a serious chronic illness. The vaccination is done with an original pediatric vaccine from Pfizer. The basic schedule consists of three doses, with an interval of approximately three weeks between the first two doses and with the third dose two months after the second dose. The majority of these children are followed up by a paediatrician in a reference hospital. This will invite the parents to have the child vaccinated.
Vaccination against COVID is not recommended in healthy children, but it can be done on an individual basis, with well-informed parental consent. These children can be vaccinated at a Pediatric Reference Centre.
Booster vaccination in healthy children aged 5 to 17 years is not recommended by the SHC, but can be offered on individual request. For children with immunosuppression or comorbidities, the SHC has already recommended a booster in July 2022.
The vaccination is done with an original pediatric mRNA vaccine for vaccination up to and including 11 years, and with a standard vaccine from 12 years. These booster vaccinations will still be possible in vaccination centers for a short time. The federal states will soon communicate in which centers children and young people can get boosters, it sounds.