WHO urges countries to consider the benefits of vaccinating children against Covid-19, but prioritize sharing shots globally first

In addition to the US and most members of the European Union, other countries vaccinating children include Cuba, which was the first country to vaccinate children as young as 2 starting in September, Chile, China, El Salvador and the United Arab Emirates.

“As a matter of global equity, as long as many parts of the world are facing extreme vaccine shortages, countries that have achieved high vaccine coverage in their high-risk populations should prioritize global sharing of COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX facility before proceeding to vaccination of children and adolescents who are at low risk for severe disease,” WHO’s statement said. COVAX is WHO’s global vaccine sharing program.

“Given current global inequity in vaccine access, the decision to vaccinate adolescents and children must account for prioritization to fully protect the highest risk subgroups through primary vaccination series, and as vaccine effectiveness declines with time since vaccination, through booster doses,” the WHO statement said.

“As such, before considering implementing primary vaccination series in adolescents and children, attaining high coverage of primary series – and booster doses as needed based on evidence of waning and optimizing vaccination impact – in highest risk subgroups, such as older adults, must be considered.”

A push to vaccinate the world

WHO has long called for global vaccine equity.

In August, WHO pressed the 20 most powerful world leaders and pharmaceutical chiefs to reverse “disgraceful” inequity in access to vaccines by the fall.

“I think whether children get vaccinated or not will depend a lot on, firstly, how we are able to cover these other priority groups first, what the epidemiology of the disease is,” WHO Chief Scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan said Wednesday at a news briefing in Geneva.

She added that more data is needed on children to better understand how much natural infection has occurred among their age group, something that will vary country by country.

“Then when we get to the goals of reducing transmission, really down to very low levels, at that point, one might consider, of course, vaccinating children as well,” Swaminathan said.

“I think the guidance on children will be very contextual and specific to local context,” she said. “But, we also need to then wait for more vaccines to have the data in children before we can make further recommendations.”

WHO notes in its new interim statement that there are benefits to vaccinating children and adolescents that go beyond direct health benefits, including that vaccinations can help keep schools safely open and decrease coronavirus transmission in other age groups, including older adults.

WHO also states that it is of “utmost importance” that children continue to get their recommended childhood vaccinations for other infectious diseases.

In data published in July, WHO reported that 23 million children overall missed out on basic routine immunizations last year — which is 3.7 million more than who missed out in 2019.

“Even as countries clamor to get their hands on COVID-19 vaccines, we have gone backwards on other vaccinations, leaving children at risk from devastating but preventable diseases like measles, polio or meningitis,” Tedros said in the July announcement.

“Multiple disease outbreaks would be catastrophic for communities and health systems already battling COVID-19, making it more urgent than ever to invest in childhood vaccination and ensure every child is reached.”