Revised COVID-19 Vaccination Guidelines Issued By WHO, Says 'People With Co-morbidities Must Get Vaccinated'

WHO has issued a new set of guidelines of vaccination based on which countries are to decide the category of people to vaccinate on priority basis.

Amid the increase in COVID-19 cases, the World Health organization has announced new and updated recommendation for vaccinations. The new guideline has mentioned very specifically about the category of the people who are most at risk and who absolutely require to get vaccinated.

As per the guideline, children and adolescents are not at risk and might not need another dosage. Infants between the age of 6 and 12 months should get a booster dose after their last vaccine because they are at risk.

Aims And Objectives

Considering the high-level population immunity in the world due to vaccination and infections, the global health body said that there aim was to focus efforts on vaccinating those facing the greatest threat of severe disease and death from COVID-19.

It falls upon the respective countries to decide whether or not they should make it mandatory to vaccinate low risk groups like adolescents and children who are healthy. The aim is to also continue vaccinating this group on other important vaccines that they routinely require for their health and well-being and not fall short of this due to COVID vaccination.

Guidelines For Different Groups

The High Priority Group: The high priority group essentially includes younger adults with co-morbidities that is essentially people suffering from chronic conditions like heart diseases or diabetes, older adults, people suffering from immunocompromising conditions (e.g. people living with HIV and transplant recipients), children between 6 months and 12 months, frontline health workers and of course pregnant women.

The Medium Priority Group: The medium priority group includes healthy adults who are under age 50 or 60, these people should be without co-morbidities. and children and adolescents with comorbidities. As per SAGE, primary series and first booster doses for the medium priority group.

The Low Priority Group: The low priority group includes healthy children and adolescents aged 6 months to 17 years. Primary and booster doses are safe and effective in children and adolescents.

However, considering the low burden of disease, SAGE urges countries considering vaccination of this age group to base their decisions on contextual factors, such as the disease burden, cost effectiveness, and other health or programmatic priorities and opportunity costs.