The World Health Organization (WHO) has advised booster immunization for the elderly and other vulnerable groups following another surge in COVID-19 cases in a number of nations. The agency stated that in order to account for the effects of Omicron and the strong population-level immunity brought on by infection and vaccination, it has changed the roadmap for prioritizing the use of Covid vaccinations.

SAGE Chair Dr. Hanna Nohynek stated that the revised roadmap re-emphasizes the importance of vaccinating those still at risk of severe disease, mostly older adults and those with underlying conditions. The revised roadmap outlines three priority-use groups for COVID vaccination: high, medium, and low. These priority groups are principally based on the risk of severe disease and death and consider vaccine performance, cost-effectiveness, programmatic factors, and community acceptance.

The high-priority group consists of older people, younger people with significant co-morbidities (such as diabetes and heart disease), immunocompromised individuals (such as transplant recipients and people living with HIV), including children six months and older, pregnant women, and frontline healthcare workers.

For the high-priority group, the agency has recommended an additional booster after 6 or 12 months from the last dose, with the timeframe depending on factors such as age and immunocompromising conditions. Additionally, the agency also stated that all the COVID vaccine recommendations are time-limited and should be applied only to the current epidemiological scenario. Hence, the recommendations for the additional booster should not be seen as for continued annual COVID vaccine boosters. 

(Source: https://daijiworld.com/news/newsDisplay?newsID=1066142 )