The big coughing and sniffling starts again: with autumn comes the season of respiratory diseases. There is slowly an increase in corresponding symptoms, said Berit Lange, head of the epidemiology department at the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research in Braunschweig and member of the Standing Vaccination Commission. Cold viruses are currently circulating.
“We are only seeing the non-influenza viruses,” said Ulrike Protzer, director of the Institute for Virology at the Technical University of Munich. These include rhinoviruses and parainfluenza viruses, which cannot be vaccinated against.
These viruses can be seen in wastewater monitoring, explained Protzer. This clearly shows that school has now started again in all federal states. Oktoberfest is also a regular event where a lot of people become infected.
According to Protzer, a protective mask can help – especially if sick people wear it. Colds, often considered harmless, could lead to hospitalization and intensive care unit admission in immunocompromised patients.
What usually comes after the cold viruses?
Experience has shown that the coronavirus then spreads, said epidemiologist Lange. The wave of Covid-19 infections could even begin in late summer. As the season progresses towards the end of the year and the beginning of next year, it is expected that flu and RS viruses will again play a larger role.
How well can the respiratory infection season be predicted?
What will happen in the next two to four weeks can be predicted relatively well, said Lange. It is more difficult to judge how the entire season will go and when the highlights will come.
According to Protzer, the viruses always change a little. Sometimes there are variants in which the viruses reproduce better, are more contagious or are more poorly recognized by the immune system. The course of the season also depends on how many people get vaccinated, added Lange.
How well do vaccinations protect?
The vaccines currently used against coronaviruses provide good protection, including against the newly emerging variants, said Protzer. With influenza, it could be that the viruses suddenly change relatively significantly and the immune system is not particularly well prepared, said Protzer.
That is why there is surveillance in the southern hemisphere, in which the viruses circulating there are examined and the local vaccines are adapted accordingly. The current composition of the vaccines is roughly tailored to the viruses that circulated in Australia, for example.
Who are vaccinations officially recommended for?
The Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) recommends vaccinations against influenza for people aged 60 and over as well as for people with previous illnesses, pregnant women and residents of care facilities. Vaccination against Covid-19 and RSV is recommended for people aged 75 and over or younger people with underlying illnesses.
The immune system needs around two weeks to build up protection, which then lasts for several months. Vaccines from last season also offer sufficiently good protection, said Stiko chairman Reinhard Berner.
Where can I get vaccinated?
Family doctors, company doctors and pharmacies offer vaccinations. The number of pharmacies offering vaccinations has increased in recent years, said the Federal Association of German Pharmacists Associations (ABDA).
How high are the vaccination rates?
According to Berner, there have been inadequate vaccination rates in Germany for years, especially among people who should be given special protection because of underlying illnesses. Underlying diseases are existing diseases that are associated with an increased risk of more severe infectious diseases.
Around 30 to 40 percent of adults with underlying illnesses were vaccinated against influenza, while the figure for children with underlying illnesses was around 10 percent. “We accept that 90 percent of our children at risk are not protected,” said Berner. He advocated that vaccinations could also be carried out in hospitals with the costs covered by health insurance companies.
How did last season go?
According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), there were around 180 million respiratory diseases in the 2025/26 winter season, including influenza, Covid-19, RSV diseases, rhinoviruses and seasonal coronaviruses. Small children had an average of 4.6 acute respiratory illnesses, adults aged 60 and over an average of 1.3.
Around 429,000 cases of severe acute respiratory infections were treated in clinics across Germany. Around 22,700 people died. Based on these figures, the RKI classifies the season as moderate and comparable to that in other countries.
