Millions of deaths are prevented every year through vaccination. This campaign provides clear, evidence-based information about how vaccines work, which vaccines are recommended, and why getting vaccinated protects you and everyone around you.
Vaccines are one of the most significant achievements in modern medicine. They have eradicated smallpox, nearly eliminated polio worldwide, and dramatically reduced diseases like measles, diphtheria, and tetanus. Getting vaccinated is not just a personal decision — it contributes to community immunity, protecting those who cannot be vaccinated due to age or medical conditions.
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The Ständige Impfkommission (STIKO) at the Robert Koch Institut publishes Germany's official vaccine recommendations. Click on a vaccine to learn more.
Getting vaccinated is straightforward. Here is what you need to know from checking your vaccination record to the day of your appointment.
Vaccines train the immune system to recognise and fight specific pathogens without causing the disease. Here is the science behind this remarkable mechanism.
The Core Principle
The immune system has two layers: innate immunity (fast, non-specific) and adaptive immunity (slow, highly specific, and memorable). Vaccines exploit the adaptive immune system's ability to remember pathogens it has encountered before.
When a vaccine is administered, it introduces an antigen — a piece of, or weakened form of, the pathogen — into the body. Antigen-presenting cells process this and display it to T cells and B cells. Activated B cells produce antibodies, and some become long-lived memory B cells that persist for years or decades. Upon real infection, these memory cells mount a rapid, powerful response before the pathogen can cause disease.
Recipe
Vaccines contain carefully selected components — each serving a specific purpose in safety, stability, or efficacy. No component is included arbitrarily; every ingredient has been rigorously tested.
The Process
Day 0: Vaccine administered — innate immune cells detect antigen. Days 1–7: Adaptive immune cells activate; antibody production begins. Weeks 2–4: Peak antibody levels reached. Months to decades: Memory cells persist, ready to respond within hours if real infection occurs.
| Component | Purpose | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Antigen | The active ingredient — trains the immune system. Can be live-attenuated, inactivated, a subunit protein, or mRNA. | Inactivated influenza virus; HBsAg protein (Hep B); SARS-CoV-2 spike mRNA |
| Adjuvant | Enhances and prolongs the immune response by activating innate immune pathways. | Aluminium hydroxide (alum); AS04 (MPL + alum) |
| Stabilisers | Protect the vaccine during storage and transport, preventing degradation of the active ingredient. | Sugars (sucrose, lactose); gelatin; amino acids |
| Preservatives | Present in multi-dose vials to prevent microbial contamination after the vial is first opened. | Thimerosal (trace amounts in some multi-dose flu vaccines) |
| Residual manufacturing traces | Tiny amounts left from production. Tested and regulated to be far below any harmful threshold. | Egg proteins (flu); formaldehyde (present at lower levels than occur naturally in the body) |
| Diluent / Buffer | Maintains correct pH and provides the liquid vehicle for injection. | Sterile saline (sodium chloride solution) |
When a sufficiently large proportion of a population is immune to a disease, the pathogen can no longer spread efficiently. This is known as herd immunity or community immunity. It protects individuals who cannot be vaccinated: newborns too young for certain vaccines, immunocompromised patients, and those with rare contraindications. For measles, the threshold is approximately 95% vaccine coverage. When vaccination rates fall below this, outbreaks re-emerge — as has been observed repeatedly in under-vaccinated communities.
Vaccine hesitancy is often driven by persistent myths and genuine questions. Here we address the most common ones directly, based on scientific evidence.
Fact This claim originates from a 1998 study by Andrew Wakefield that was later found to be fraudulent. The paper was fully retracted and Wakefield lost his medical licence. Since then, over 30 large-scale epidemiological studies involving millions of children worldwide have found no link between vaccines — including the MMR vaccine — and autism spectrum disorder.
The thimerosal preservative was also targeted as a suspected cause. It was removed from routine childhood vaccines in the early 2000s as a precautionary measure. Autism rates continued to rise after its removal, demonstrating it was not a contributing factor.
This depends on the disease. For some pathogens, natural infection does produce strong immunity — but at the cost of potentially serious illness or death. For others, vaccines produce comparable or superior immunity without the risk. The hepatitis B vaccine generates protective antibody levels in over 95% of healthy adults without any of the dangers of active infection. There is no reason to risk the harm of a disease when a safe vaccine can produce the same protective effect.
Both formaldehyde and aluminium are naturally present in the human body in far greater quantities than are found in vaccines. Formaldehyde is a natural byproduct of human metabolism; a newborn baby contains roughly 50–70 times more formaldehyde in their bloodstream than is present in a vaccine dose. Aluminium adjuvants in vaccines amount to fractions of a milligram — far less than what a person typically ingests from food and water in a single day.
The human immune system is extraordinarily capable. At birth, a baby's immune system can theoretically respond to thousands of antigens simultaneously. The antigens in all recommended childhood vaccines combined represent less than 0.1% of the antigens a healthy child encounters in everyday life. Combination vaccines like MMR or Tdap were designed precisely to reduce the number of injections while providing full protection efficiently.
Yes — vaccines undergo one of the most rigorous approval processes of any medical product. Development involves preclinical laboratory testing, then Phase I trials (safety in a small group), Phase II trials (safety and immunogenicity in a larger group), and Phase III trials (efficacy and safety in tens of thousands of participants). Only after all phases show a favourable profile is a vaccine submitted to regulatory authorities (EMA in Europe, PEI in Germany) for approval. Post-approval pharmacovigilance continues indefinitely.
Common local reactions include redness, swelling, and tenderness at the injection site. Systemic reactions can include mild fever, fatigue, and headache in the first 1–2 days. These are not signs that something is wrong — they reflect the immune system activating. Serious adverse events are rare and actively monitored. In Germany, suspected adverse reactions can be reported to the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI).
STIKO recommends vaccinations across all age groups. Adults need booster doses (e.g. Td every 10 years), annual flu vaccines (especially those 60+), and pneumococcal and shingles vaccines as they age. Many adults are also missing childhood vaccines due to gaps in early healthcare. An adult vaccination review by your GP is recommended and covered by public health insurance.