The Standing Commission on Vaccination (STIKO) has generally come out in favor of Corona vaccinations for pregnant and breastfeeding women. "After detailed consultation and evaluation of the available evidence," the STIKO recommends vaccination for pregnant women from the second trimester of pregnancy and for breastfeeding women with two doses of an mRNA vaccine, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced Friday. The draft decision of the recommendation must now still in a so-called comment procedure with the federal states and involved professionals, is therefore not yet a final recommendation.

In the previously valid vaccination recommendation, the STIKO did not advocate general vaccination during pregnancy. Random vaccinations of pregnant women, for example, if they did not yet know they were expecting a baby, were, however, "not an indication for termination of pregnancy," it said.

Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) said, "Pregnant and breastfeeding women now also have a clear recommendation for vaccination. After many months with many unanswered questions, this now finally means scientifically based certainty." He made an urgent appeal to pregnant and breastfeeding women: "Ask your doctor. Get vaccinated. You will protect yourself and your child."

Physicians have also been able to vaccinate pregnant women, but the STIKO recommendation previously only included pregnant women with pre-existing conditions and a resulting high risk of severe corona disease or with an increased risk of infection due to their circumstances.

The STIKO is an independent body. It develops vaccination recommendations, looking at the benefits for the individual and the population as a whole. The experts evaluate international data and studies for this purpose. The recommendations are considered the medical standard, according to the Stiko website.

Meanwhile, it was revealed that about a quarter of adolescents 12 to 17 years old are now fully vaccinated. At least one vaccination has been given to 35.9 percent in this age group. That's according to figures released Friday (as of 10:03 a.m.) by the federal health ministry. "The recommended vaccination protects at any age," wrote Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) on Twitter. Across the population, 61.9 percent or about 51.47 million people had full vaccination protection so far. At least one vaccination received 66.3 percent or about 55.14 million inhabitants.

Bremen still has the highest rate of fully vaccinated people (72.2 percent), followed by Saarland (68.5 percent) and Schleswig-Holstein (66.6 percent). Four German states have rates well below 60 percent in some cases: Saxony brought up the rear with 52.8 percent, followed by Brandenburg (56.4 percent), Thuringia (56.8 percent) and Saxony-Anhalt (58.9 percent).