Overview
- Public campaigns launched in early October encourage people to get vaccinated now with shots available in GP practices and in some pharmacies.
- The Ständige Impfkommission (STIKO) recommends annual flu shots for people 60 and over, pregnant women, those with chronic illness, care‑home residents and medical staff and statutory health insurance must cover those groups.
- This season uses age‑specific formulations: trivalent standard vaccines for most adults, an adjuvanted option for people 50 and older and a higher‑dose vaccine for those 60 and older; COVID boosters in many clinics remain supplied in six‑dose vials.
- Techniker Krankenkasse data show a modest rebound with about 40 percent of its insured aged 60+ receiving flu shots in 2025/26, but regional gaps persist and coverage remains well below EU targets.
- Public‑health agencies point to the Robert Koch Institute's 2025/26 figures of large numbers of respiratory infections and thousands of deaths as the reason for the push and note that vaccine composition is fixed each year through WHO/EMA review and domestic PEI oversight, so supply and packaging cannot be changed quickly mid‑season.