SHTDF - WHO updates COVID vaccine guidance; low priority for children and adolescents

2023-03-28 12:05:00 ET

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued revised recommendations for prioritizing the use of COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday, including healthy children and adolescents in a low-priority group for immunizations.

The announcement follows a meeting of the agency’s Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), the WHO said, adding that the updated guidance reflects the impact of the Omicron variant and the community-level protection achieved from infection and vaccination.

Per the revised guidance, the WHO recommends three priority-use groups for vaccination: high, medium, and low, based on the risk of disease severity and death, vaccine performance, cost-effectiveness, and other factors.

The panel recommends an additional booster dose for the high-priority group, which includes older adults, immunocompromised people, and younger adults with conditions such as diabetes and heart ailments.

Noting that the recommendations are applicable only for the current phase of the pandemic, the WHO said that the additional booster, which it recommends after 6 or 12 months from the last dose, “should not be seen as for continued annual COVID-19 vaccine boosters.”

The medium group comprising healthy adults and children, adolescents with underlying conditions, is recommended to have the primary vaccine series and the first booster dose. “Although additional boosters are safe for this group, SAGE does not routinely recommend them, given the comparatively low public health returns,” the WHO said.

SAGE includes healthy children and adolescents aged six months to 17 years in the low-priority group for whom it says vaccination should depend on cost-effectiveness, opportunity costs, and other factors given the low burden of the disease.

“Countries that already have a policy in place for additional boosters should assess the evolving need based on national disease burden, cost effectiveness and opportunity costs,” WHO said.

Revising its guidance on updated COVID vaccines, the health agency said that countries could consider mRNA vaccines adjusted for the BA.5 variant of Omicron for the primary vaccine series.

COVID-19 vaccine makers: Pfizer ( NYSE: PFE )/ BioNTech ( NASDAQ: BNTX ), Moderna ( NASDAQ: MRNA ), Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ ), Novavax ( NASDAQ: NVAX ), AstraZeneca ( AZN ), GlaxoSmithKline ( GSK )/ Sanofi ( SNY ), Sinovac Biotech ( SVA ), CanSino Biologics ( OTCPK:CASBF ), Sinopharm ( OTCPK:SHTDF ) ( OTCPK:SHTDY ), CureVac N.V. ( CVAC )

Ahead of a potential declaration on whether to end the emergency status for COVID, the WHO updated its pandemic-era guidelines for masks and treatments in January.

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