Rieck et al.
Vaccination rates of adults in Germany – current results based on the surveillance by the Association of statutory Health Insurance Physicians
[Impfquoten be Erwachsenen in Deutschland – Aktuelles aus der KV-Impfsurveillance]
Epid. Bull. 2021;50:3-22, doi:10.25646/9436
The Robert Koch-Institut (RKI) yearly analyzes and publishes the vaccination rate of adults based on data from the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. Recently, a similar report has been published for the vaccination rates of children and adolescents, and data about TBE vaccination rates have been discussed in Snapshot week 51/2021.
The assessment of the TBE vaccination rates was based on complete vaccination schedules – three injections for primary vaccination followed by a booster after three or five years, depending on age. The data presents the vaccination rates of the federal states and their 161 counties defined as TBE risk areas in 2019.
In general, the data shows that the TBE vaccination rates among adults are low, and great differences were found in the vaccination rates in counties defined as risk areas.
In 2019, the vaccination rates were between 7.7% and 38.6% in counties defined as risk areas. They were quite low in Bavaria (20.0%) and in Baden-Wuerttemberg (16.0 %) – both federal states have a high number of reported TBE cases every year. In Thuringia, the TBE vaccination rate was 30% and 16% in Hesse. In Lower Saxony, a TBE risk area was declared in 2019 for the first time, where the vaccination rate was not higher than 10%.
In all federal states, the vaccination rates decreased when individuals reached the age of 60 years due to a delay of timely boosters (3 instead of 5 years).
The authors discussed that TBE antibody concentrations persist for 10 years or even longer after a complete basic immunization and that protection may be expected also in case of the booster vaccination being delayed.