Overview
- Late October the Gemeinsamer Bundesausschuss adopted updated STIKO guidance that took effect at the end of the month and reclassified COVID‑19 booster shots as a self‑pay service for most people.
- The Robert Koch Institute reports more than 95 percent of adults now have broad immunity to SARS‑CoV‑2 and that COVID‑19 hospital admissions and deaths have fallen substantially.
- Publicly funded COVID doses remain for defined groups, including very old and clinically vulnerable people, certain health and care workers, and pregnant people with risk factors, and clinicians are asked to assess vaccination needs individually.
- Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern’s health office says influenza activity is starting slowly at about last season’s level, and Health Minister Stefanie Drese urged people aged 60 and over, those with chronic conditions, and pregnant people from the fourth month to get the flu vaccine.
- The policy shift could raise out‑of‑pocket costs of roughly €100 per COVID shot for many Germans and may change where and how people seek protection this winter, with public health officials watching flu uptake and hospital pressure after last season’s roughly 12,000 cases and 25 deaths in the state.