The World Health Organization (WHO) has relaxed its corona virus vaccination recommendations. According to this, in this new phase of the pandemic, only risk groups should receive an additional vaccination twelve months after the last booster, and not healthy children and adolescents as before. According to WHO, this applies to older and younger people with significant risk factors.
The organization also announced that vaccine protection beyond the basic immunization of two shots and a booster is no longer generally recommended for people of “medium risk”. Healthy children and adolescents are a “low priority” group. WHO is therefore urging countries to consider the illnesses before recommending vaccination for these people. “The revised roadmap reaffirms the importance of vaccinating those at risk of serious illness,” said Hanna Nohynek, chair of the WHO Expert Group on Immunization, which issued the recommendations.
Currently, different countries have different approaches to vaccinating their populations. Wealthy countries like the UK and Canada are offering booster shots to at-risk groups this spring, just six months after the last immunization. According to the WHO, this is a possibility for particularly risky subgroups, depending on their age and immune deficiencies.