The STIKO – the Standing Vaccination Commission – played an important role, especially during the corona pandemic. The voluntary committee has now been reorganized. The leadership was also replaced.
With its constituent meeting, the Standing Vaccination Commission completed the personnel changes within its own ranks. The head of STIKO has also been replaced: the previous head of the commission, Thomas Mertens, is succeeded by the virologist Klaus Überla.
Überla is director of the Virological Institute at the University Hospital Erlangen and the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, as can be seen from the information about his career on the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) website. The doctor has been a member of STIKO since 2017 and has already participated in several working groups of the commission – including the group that dealt with vaccination recommendations against the coronavirus.
The previous chairman of STIKO, Thomas Mertens, took over the leadership of the commission in 2017. He had long since announced that he would not take over the chairmanship again.
The position of deputy STIKO chairman has also been filled: it will be taken over by practicing gynecologist Marianne Röbl-Mathieu, also a member of the vaccination commission since 2017.
Klaus Überla has been a member of the Standing Vaccination Commission since 2017 – he has now moved to its head.
For many members, the first term in office
The personnel change at STIKO had been announced for some time. A total of 14 of the 19 volunteer members are starting their first term in office. In the future, you will be a member of STIKO for a maximum of three appointment periods, i.e. for a maximum of nine years. The Federal Ministry of Health said this should help ensure the independence of the committee.
Like Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, the Robert Koch Institute also placed diversity in the new staffing in the foreground: “For the first time, experts from the disciplines of mathematical modeling, communication science and geriatrics are represented in this appointment period.”
According to the RKI, there will be no change in the thematic focus of STIKO’s work for the time being. Accordingly, the focus continues to be on preventing respiratory diseases and dealing with vaccinations against influenza, COVID-19, meningococci and pneumococci.