The vaccine against the coronavirus is now also possible in children from 6 months

The Interministerial Conference on Public Health has launched the basic vaccination against COVID-19 of children aged 6 months to 4 years, and the booster vaccination of children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 years. The decision was made on the basis of the opinion of the Superior Health Council (SHC) and the Vaccination Task Force.

A basic vaccination course is recommended for children who are immunosuppressed or suffering from a serious chronic illness. Vaccination is carried out 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. Most of these children are followed up by a pediatrician in a referral hospital. This will prompt the parents to have the child vaccinated.

Vaccination against COVID is not recommended in healthy children, but can be done on an individual basis, with informed parental consent. These children can be vaccinated at a pediatric referral centre.

Booster vaccination in healthy children aged 5-17 years is not recommended by the SHC, but can be offered on individual request. For children with immunosuppression or comorbidities, the SHC already recommended a booster in July 2022.

Vaccination is carried out with an original pediatric mRNA vaccine for vaccination up to and including 11 years of age and with a standard vaccine from 12 years of age. These booster vaccinations will still be possible in vaccination centers for a short time. Federal states will soon announce where children and young people can receive boosters, it seems.