WHO not recommending general vaccination of children against COVID

WHO is currently not recommending the general vaccination of children and adolescents as the burden of severe disease in these age groups is low and high coverage has not yet been achieved in all countries among those groups who are at highest risk of severe disease, reads a statement by the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization and its COVID-19 Vaccines Working Group in Geneva.

Director-General of WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called for a moratorium on booster vaccination for healthy adults until the end of 2021 to counter the persisting and profound inequity in global vaccine access. While many countries are far from reaching the 40% coverage target by the end of 2021, other countries have vaccinated well beyond this threshold, already reaching children and implementing extensive booster vaccination programs. At the time of release of this statement, globally about 20% of COVID-19 vaccine doses, daily, are used for booster or additional dose vaccination.

Vaccine booster dose policy decisions should be based on evidence of individual and public health benefit and obligations to secure global equity in vaccine access as a means to minimize health impacts and transmission, and thereby reduce the risk of variants and prolongation of the pandemic. While vaccine supply is growing, it is not evenly distributed. Lower income countries have had far less access, and face unpredictable and irregular supply. Within countries, equity considerations support improving coverage of the primary vaccination series in high risk populations as the top priority use of vaccine doses, he said.

www.anews.az