Vaccination at the pharmacy: what applies in Berlin

Adults can be vaccinated at a pharmacy without a doctor’s appointment and without a referral. Since 2 July 2026 this is no longer limited to flu and COVID-19.

What changed

Until then, pharmacies in Germany could vaccinate against flu and COVID-19 and nothing else. Under the Apothekenversorgung-Weiterentwicklungsgesetz, the act that widened what a pharmacy may do, trained pharmacists may now vaccinate adults with any inactivated vaccine. That means a vaccine containing no pathogens able to multiply. The rule sits in § 20c of the Infektionsschutzgesetz, the German infection protection act.

Permitted is not the same as available. Whoever vaccinates has to be trained for it by a physician. That training has existed for flu and COVID-19 for years; for the vaccinations that were just added, the Bundesapothekerkammer and the Bundesärztekammer, the federal chambers of pharmacists and of physicians, are still drawing it up. What a pharmacy offers today therefore shows in the search results, and nowhere else.

What has not changed: no pharmacy has to vaccinate. It is a voluntary service, and each one decides for itself which vaccinations it offers. That is why every pharmacy page here lists what that pharmacy actually offers.

Which vaccinations are possible

Ten of them come into question at a pharmacy. Each linked page says who it is recommended to and which Berlin pharmacies offer it.

• Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE)
• Flu
• COVID-19
• Tetanus / Diphtheria / Whooping cough / Polio
• Hepatitis A / Hepatitis B
• Pneumococcal disease
• RSV
• Shingles
• Meningococcal B
• Meningococcal ACWY

From what age

From 18, with no exception, not even for COVID-19.

Neither the individual pharmacy nor this site decides that: the age limit is written into the statute. Anyone younger is vaccinated at a doctor’s practice, and children and adolescents usually at a paediatric one.

What it costs

The Ständige Impfkommission is the German standing committee on vaccination. For vaccinations you are entitled to under its 2026 recommendations, your statutory health insurer pays. You pay nothing, not even a co-payment. Who is entitled to what is set out in the Schutzimpfungs-Richtlinie, the directive of the Gemeinsamer Bundesausschuss. The page for each vaccination spells it out.

A vaccination for a private reason, before a trip for instance, works differently. You normally pay for it yourself, though some insurers refund it voluntarily. What it costs is then set by each pharmacy. Ask there before you book. That is why no page here shows a price.

How an appointment runs

Allow just under half an hour. The sequence is the same everywhere.

1. Consultation. The pharmacist asks about existing conditions, allergies and medication, and explains what the vaccination involves.
2. Consent. You confirm in writing that you were informed and agree.
3. The vaccination. Into the upper arm, over in seconds.
4. Observation and record. You stay in the pharmacy a little longer. The vaccination then goes into your vaccination record.

Bring your vaccination record, ID and health insurance card. It also works without the record: you are given a certificate to paste in.

What the pharmacy does not do

• Children and adolescents under 18. Until the summer of 2026 the COVID-19 vaccination was possible from 12; it no longer is.
• Live vaccines, among them measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox. Those belong at a doctor’s practice.
• Yellow fever. Only licensed yellow fever vaccination centres may give it.

If you are pregnant, have a chronic illness or take medication that affects your immune system, speak to your pharmacy or your doctor beforehand. What is right in your case can only be settled there, not on a website.