Amid the recent spike in COVID-19 cases, the World Health Organization revised its COVID-19 vaccine guidelines and recommended additional booster shots for the high-risk group.
However, it said people at medium or low risk no longer need additional COVID-19 boosters.
The health agency divided the priority-use groups for COVID-19 vaccination into three levels: high, medium, and low.
It also recommended an additional booster shot 6 or 12 months after the last dose for this population, with the timeframe determined by factors such as age and immunocompromising conditions. The second group consists of healthy individuals with no comorbidities and children/adolescents with comorbidities for whom the WHO recommended the first booster dose.
The third group comprises healthy children/adolescents aged 6 months to 17 years. Given the low disease burden in this group, SAGE advised nations considering vaccinations to base their decisions on contextual factors.
Notably, many countries, including India, are seeing an increase in coronavirus infections due to the XBB 1.16 subvariant.
The WHO’s update follows the March 20-23 meeting of its Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE).