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Have a vaccine injury recognised

Social care provision administration · compensation under § 24 SGB XIV

In SGB XIV since 2024Four types of vaccinationNo deadline for applying

Two statements about this procedure are shortened almost everywhere, and both send the application nowhere. The first concerns the legal basis: since 1 January 2024, it has no longer been found in § 60 of the Protection against Infection Act, but in § 24 SGB XIV. Anyone searching for the old provision finds a rule that no longer exists — the entitlement itself continues unchanged.

The second is more consequential. It is said almost everywhere that only a vaccination publicly recommended by the state authority is covered. That is the most common case, but not the only one: § 24 names four. Covered are vaccinations that (1) were publicly recommended by the competent state authority under § 20 Abs. 3 IfSG and administered within its area, (2) exist as an entitlement on the basis of a statutory order under § 20i Abs. 3 SGB V, (3) were carried out free of charge by a health authority under § 20 Abs. 5 IfSG, or (4) are ordered by statutory order under § 20 Abs. 6 or 7 IfSG or are required by law. Anyone who measures their case only against the first alternative may give up too soon.

What counts as injury is defined by the Act with a formula worth knowing: a health injury “that goes beyond the usual extent of a reaction to a vaccination or other specific prophylaxis measure”. Usual vaccine reactions — redness, swelling, fever, a few days of fatigue — are not meant by this. What matters is what goes beyond that and persists.

And a case that hardly anyone has on their radar is set out expressly in the Act: protection also applies “where the vaccination was carried out with pathogens capable of reproducing and a person other than the vaccinated person was injured”. So anyone who is infected by a vaccinated person, despite not being vaccinated themselves, falls under the same provision.

Last updated28 August 2026
Legal basis§ 24 SGB XIV
VerificationChecked against SGB XIV, IfSG and the transitional provisions
Written and reviewed byAndrés Sánchez Botta
Independent information website: we are not the Versorgungsamt, not an authority and not a paid advice service – we do not submit applications on your behalf. All information comes from official sources and is explained here in plain language; binding information always comes from the competent body. No legal advice and not an official authority. We are neither lawyers nor tax consultants: we document official procedures and check the information against the official source – this is information, not legal or tax advice.
Legal basis§ 24 SGB XIVNo longer § 60 IfSG
Vaccinations coveredFour casesNot only the recommended one
Competent bodyState where vaccinatedNot the place of residence
Application deadlineNoneBackdating: one year
Required documents

What you need

The vaccination record or certificate

Vaccine, batch number, date and the body administering the vaccination. The batch number is more important than it looks: it allows reports concerning the same batch to be matched up.

Proof of which of the four alternatives applies

Your federal state’s public recommendation, the statutory order under § 20i Abs. 3 SGB V, evidence of the free vaccination by the health authority, or the order. Check all four before giving up on the case.

The medical records of the course of events

Initial presentation, diagnoses, hospital reports, timeline of symptoms. What matters is the timing in relation to the vaccination and proof that it went beyond the usual reaction.

The report to the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, if one was made

A suspected vaccination complication is reported there. This report does not replace the application for compensation — they are two different processes at two different bodies.

The place of vaccination

Not your place of residence: under § 113 Abs. 5 SGB XIV, the competent federal state is the one in which the causative vaccination was administered. For a vaccination abroad, what matters is your last place of residence within Germany.

Step by step

How to proceed

  1. 1

    Go through all four alternatives under § 24

    Publicly recommended, a statutory entitlement under § 20i Abs. 3 SGB V, carried out free of charge by the health authority, or ordered or required by law. One of these is enough.

  2. 2

    Determine the right federal state

    The competent federal state is the one in which you were vaccinated — not the federal state of your place of residence. Anyone who has moved, or was vaccinated while travelling, otherwise sends the application to the wrong body and loses months.

  3. 3

    Submit the application, even if the cause is unclear

    Under § 4 Abs. 4 SGB XIV, probability is enough for the causal link; where the cause is scientifically unresolved, discretionary recognition (Kann-Versorgung) under subsection 6 may be possible. An unresolved mechanism is therefore no reason not to try.

  4. 4

    Document the timeline without gaps

    When you were vaccinated, when the first symptoms appeared, when which diagnosis was made. This timeline carries the causation assessment — and it becomes difficult to reconstruct years later.

  5. 5

    Do not confuse the report to the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut with the application

    The suspicion report serves medicine safety, the application serves compensation. Both are worthwhile, but neither replaces the other.

Fee information

Costs and payment

Requirements and frameworkThe procedure is free of charge for applicants
ApplicationFree of charge
Vaccinations coveredFour alternatives, § 24
Injury thresholdBeyond the usual reaction
Third personsCovered with live vaccine
JurisdictionState where vaccinated
Standard of proofProbability

Vaccinations given purely for travel are often covered by none of the four alternatives — but often does not mean always. Check your federal state’s public recommendation before drawing that conclusion.

Good to know

Important notes

Where the application goes is the question on which most accounts move too fast. § 112 SGB XIV only provides that the authorities designated under state law have substantive jurisdiction — and the federal states have resolved this differently. In Bavaria, the ZBFS handles both, the law on severe disability and social compensation. In North Rhine-Westphalia, it does not: there, the districts and district-free cities determine the GdB, while social compensation is handled by the regional associations LVR and LWL. So it is not the same body everywhere as for the Schwerbehindertenausweis — ask about this explicitly, rather than sending the application to wherever you last had dealings.

The widespread shorthand “only publicly recommended vaccinations” costs applications. § 24 SGB XIV also covers vaccinations to which an entitlement exists under a statutory order relating to § 20i Abs. 3 SGB V, vaccinations that a health authority carried out free of charge, and those that are ordered or required by law. Four doors, not one.

A claim circulates about the deadlines that stops people from even asking: “you only have one year.” This is a mix-up. § 11 SGB XIV does not regulate by when you may apply, but from when payment is made: benefits are, in principle, paid from the month the application is submitted, and by way of exception also for periods before that, if the application was submitted within one year of the injurious event. The one year therefore concerns only the backdating. There is no deadline for applying — an application can still be made even after decades, simply without back payment for the past.

A refused notice is not the end. Besides an objection and legal action before the social court, an application for review may be considered if new medical findings emerge — precisely because § 4 Abs. 4 SGB XIV refers to the current state of medical science. What is considered unresolved today may be assessed differently in a few years.

Avoid these mistakes

Common mistakes

Searching for § 60 IfSG? That provision was replaced by § 24 SGB XIV on 1 January 2024.

Sending the application to the federal state of your place of residence. Under § 113 Abs. 5, the competent federal state is the one in which you were vaccinated.

Checking only the public recommendation. § 24 has four alternatives; one is enough.

Mistaking the report to the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut for the application. Two bodies, two procedures, two purposes.

Not applying at all because of scientific uncertainty. Probability is enough, and where the cause is unresolved, discretionary recognition may be possible.

Frequently asked questions

Questions and answers

Which vaccinations are covered?

Four categories of case, not just one. § 24 SGB XIV covers vaccinations that were publicly recommended by the competent state authority under § 20 Abs. 3 IfSG and administered within its area; to which an entitlement exists under a statutory order relating to § 20i Abs. 3 SGB V; that a health authority carried out free of charge under § 20 Abs. 5 IfSG; and that are ordered by statutory order under § 20 Abs. 6 or 7 IfSG or required by law. It is enough for one of these alternatives to apply.

Where do I submit the application?

At the social compensation authority of the federal state in which the vaccination was administered — not at your place of residence. § 113 Abs. 5 SGB XIV refers expressly to the federal state in which the causative vaccination took place. If you were vaccinated abroad, what matters is your last place of residence within Germany. This is an exception: for acts of violence, for example, jurisdiction follows the place of residence.

From when is something considered a vaccine injury?

When the health injury goes beyond the usual extent of a reaction to the vaccination. Usual vaccine reactions such as redness, swelling, fever or a few days of fatigue do not fall under this. What matters is what goes beyond that and persists.

Must I prove that the vaccination was the cause?

No. § 4 Abs. 4 SGB XIV requires only probability of the causal link: this exists where, according to the current state of medical science, more speaks for it than against it. If the cause is scientifically unresolved, the health disorder can nevertheless be recognised as a consequence of the injury (Schädigungsfolge) under subsection 6 with the consent of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

Does this also apply if I was infected by a vaccinated person?

Yes, this is expressly set out in the Act. § 24 SGB XIV provides, at the end, that protection also applies where the vaccination was carried out with pathogens capable of reproducing and a person other than the vaccinated person was injured. This case concerns live vaccines and is almost never mentioned in accounts of the law.

Are travel vaccinations covered?

Often not, but you should not jump to that conclusion. What matters is whether one of the four alternatives under § 24 applies — in particular, whether your federal state publicly recommended the vaccination in question, or whether it was carried out free of charge by a health authority. Check your federal state’s public recommendations before classing the case as hopeless.

Related official procedures

Social compensation
Four grounds since 1 January 2024
No deadline for applying
Trauma outpatient clinic
Up to 15 sessions without recognition
First two always free
First GdB application
The overall GdB is not a sum
Determination from GdB 20

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