[Physician's information requirements before providing vaccines].

Vaccination is one of the most successful and cost-effective tools for disease prevention. However, the success makes vaccination its own worst enemy: adverse vaccine events, i. e., those caused by the vaccine or those associated with immunization by co-incidence or only suspected, become more visible than the consequences of the natural disease itself. Not surprisingly, discussions regarding the benefit and risk of immunization have become increasingly prominent in many industrially developed countries such as Germany. In addition to balanced health information provided to the public and the medical community, increased attention should be paid to the physician's duty of disclosure before providing vaccines. Annually, the German Advisory Committee on Immunization (STIKO) publishes updated recommendations on immunization policies including recommendations for information requirements. Information should be provided on the disease, the nature and benefit of the vaccine, the duration of immunity and the need for boosters, possible side effects and complications, and other important is-sues. Considering a case of a complication following immunization, the German Federal Court of Justice decided recently on the duty of disclosure regarding the risk of vaccines. The decision has been taken into consideration by the STIKO. Special attention should be paid to information requirements when providing licensed but not yet officially recommended vaccines.