July 14, 2026
Germany’s new recommendations come as other countries have also relaxed their COVID-19 vaccine guidance.
In December 2025, the U.K.’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation issued new guidance to offer COVID-19 vaccines only to adults aged 75 and over, residents of care homes, and people ages 6 months and older who are immunosuppressed.
Those changes followed the CDC’s adoption of new COVID-19 vaccine guidance in October 2025, based on recommendations issued by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in September of that year, when the committee voted to recommend “individual-based decision-making” for COVID-19 vaccination for people ages 6 months to 64 years.
In justifying its vote, ACIP emphasized that the risk-benefit of vaccination is most favorable for those at increased risk for severe COVID-19 infections.
In May 2025, the CDC stopped recommending the COVID-19 shot for healthy children and healthy pregnant women. The change prompted the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups to sue U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.