[Vaccination recommendations of the Standing Committee on Vaccination at the Robert Koch Institute. Legal basis and significance].

The promotion of immunisation in Germany is regulated under Federal and Land (state) law. The Protection against Infection Act (Infektionsschutzgesetz) provides the framework for immunisations as a means of public health protection from vaccine-preventable diseases. Book Five of the Social Code (SGB V) regulates the claim of statutory health insurance members to receive protective vaccinations. Both federal laws stipulate that the health administration and the self-administration organs proceed on the basis of the recommendations issued by the Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) at the Robert Koch Institute. This ensures homogeneous, evidence-based and comprehensive preventive immunisation coverage and the provision of the corresponding benefits by the statutory health insurance. In the Laender (states), the tasks and possibilities of the public health services vary with respect to preventive immunisations. A future task will be to further intensify cooperation among the institutions of self-administration in the health care system and the authorities at the local, Land (state) and Federal levels. Concerted action can achieve an increase in immunisation participation by the population, especially in regions where levels are moderate.