STIKO is the Ständige Impfkommission, an independent expert committee attached to the Robert Koch Institute. It issues the official vaccination recommendations for Germany, setting out which vaccinations are advised for which age groups and which situations, and it publishes updates to them on a regular schedule.
Every misunderstanding sits in what the recommendations actually are. They are advice reached by an expert body, carrying real weight but binding nobody as an individual. They describe what is advised, not what a pharmacy is allowed to do, so the question of who may give a vaccination and after which ärztliche Schulung is answered by a different set of rules entirely. They also say nothing about money, which is settled wherever the Impfhonorar is settled.
A pharmacy quotes them rather than paraphrasing them for a plain reason. A quoted recommendation gives the whole team one answer that reads the same on Monday and on Friday and whoever happens to be at the counter. A paraphrase produces a slightly different answer from each member of staff, and the difference is the thing customers notice and repeat elsewhere. Quoting also keeps any wording that reaches a window or a leaflet inside what the Heilmittelwerbegesetz allows, since a recommendation reported accurately is not a promise.
The recommendations change, and that is the practical trap. An out of date printout in the back room is worse than no printout at all, because it gets quoted with confidence. Note the publication date on whatever version the team works from, put the check for a newer version in the same review cycle as any other Standardarbeitsanweisung, and treat the current version as the only one that counts.
The conversation itself is usually short. The record of what somebody has already had is one thing, the current recommendation is another, and the gap between the two is what the customer came in to ask about. Naming the source, naming its date, and sending everything beyond that to a physician keeps the answer useful and keeps it inside the pharmacy's remit.
This glossary entry is general information about German pharmacy law and practice. It is not legal advice. For binding guidance on your own pharmacy, contact your Landesapothekerkammer.
