This list contains all vaccines currently authorised in Austria (alphabetically by product name) with the following information:

• product name
• marketing authorisation holder
• indication
• target group
• possible remarks
• Adjuvant yes/no or type of adjuvant
• Thiomersal yes/no

Information on current availability and pricing as well as comparisons between different products with the same indication are not included.

On the question of availability, it is possible to consult the "Shortages Catalogue" list.

Vaccination recommendations of the Austrian NIG.

If you find a vaccine name in your vaccination pass that does not appear in the list of approved vaccines, you can check here.

Most vaccines that have been used in Austria since 1950 are included in this list.

The "Austrian Vaccination Plan" contains all current national vaccination recommendations.

Uncertainty and scepticism with regard to vaccinations are primarily based on fear of vaccination side effects or vaccine damage. In order to provide evidence-based information for both healthcare professionals and patients, a corresponding addendum to the Austrian Vaccination Plan has been drawn up.

Hardly any other medicine causes as much uncertainty and - sometimes unfounded - fear as vaccines.  This is partly due to the fact that the people vaccinated are healthy people (primarily children) and partly due to the large amount of misinformation in the media, especially on the internet.

In order to provide the public with evidence-based information, an addendum to the Austrian Immunisation Plan was published. This deals with definitions and delimitations regarding vaccination reactions, vaccination side effects and vaccination damage, causality assessment of vaccination side effects, the role of the Medicines Agency as a monitoring body and adjuvants (in particular adjuvants). It also describes how the ‘Side effects’ section of the product information is created.

Reactions and side effects after vaccinations (as of December 2013)

New website of the Ministry of Health: "Vaccination simply protects"

The document "Vaccinations for adults of working age, explanations and definitions in addition to the Austrian Vaccination Plan" can be downloaded from the BMGF website.

The document "Vaccinations for health care workers, recommendations as an extension of the Austrian Vaccination Plan" can be downloaded online.

Austrian Medical Association: “Check your Immunisation”.

• WHO vaccines and immunization
• WHO vaccine safety
• European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
• World Health Organization - Vaccine safety websites meeting essential and important good information practices criteria

In the course of the vaccination campaigns from December 2020 to mid-2023, the BASG provided the current, German-language Summary of Product Characteristics for centrally approved COVID-19 vaccines in Europe. This service was discontinued in November 2023.

For the vaccines used in the free vaccination program in Austria (including COVID-19), the Ministry of Health offers the current German-language Summary of Product Characteristics and Package Leaflet:

• Summary of Product Characteristics: https://www.sozialministerium.at/Themen/Gesundheit/Impfen/Gebrauchsinformationen-der-Impfstoffe-im-kostenfreien-Impfprogramm.html
• Package Leaflet: https://www.sozialministerium.at/Themen/Gesundheit/Impfen/Fachinformationen-der-Impfstoffe-des-kostrenfreien-Impfprogramms.html

The current version of the relevant documents for centrally/EU-authorized vaccines can also be found in the "Union Register of medicinal products" (each under "Annexes"): https://ec.europa.eu/health/documents/community-register/html/index_en.htm

Further information, such as the European Public Assessment Report (EPAR), can be found for all centrally authorized medicinal products on the website of the European Medicines Agency (EMA): https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/medicines

Prophylactic vaccines must be safe drugs as far as possible because, unlike therapeutic drugs, they are mostly administered to healthy people who, depending on their exposure, may only have a small risk of developing the disease without vaccination.

This results in special requirements for the so-called benefit-risk assessment of vaccines within the framework of an approval procedure. Modern vaccines are generally well tolerated due to the current production and analytical control requirements.

A vaccine is approved in Europe within the framework of EU-wide or national procedures according to a strictly regulated procedure within legal deadlines. The quality (manufacturing), safety and efficacy of a vaccine are reviewed based on preclinical and clinical data.

The official activities form a very complex safety net at all levels in the life cycle of a drug or vaccine: clinical trials, scientific advice, approval procedures, post-marketing studies required on a case-by-case basis, official inspections, batch testing and pharmacovigilance.

COVID-19 vaccines are subject to an accelerated approval process. For further information please visit the AGES website.

Before a batch of vaccine may be placed on the Austrian market, it must have been tested by an Official Medicines Control Laboratory (OMCL) of an EU/EEA Member State. The results must comply with the specifications approved in the Austrian approval. The batch production and test protocols are checked for each product batch. In addition, the submitted test samples are subjected to the prescribed analyses. Additionally to its long-standing experience with the testing of plasma products, the Austrian OMCL of BASG/AGES specialised in recent years on the testing of vaccines.