According to the World Health Organization, two major COVID-19 vaccine guidelines have made an about-face. COVID vaccines are no longer proposed for healthy children and teenagers, and perpetual booster recommendations have been ousted for healthy adults under the age of 60.
The WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) recently curated a revised COVID vaccine roadmap which defines three priority groups—high, medium, and low. These categories are classified based on “risk of severe disease and death” for those who contract the virus.
Children ages six months to 17 years who are in good health are deemed low priority.
In the press release, SAGE directs countries to contemplate aspects such as “disease burden, cost-effectiveness, and other health or programmatic priorities and opportunity costs” when coming to conclusions about vaccine requirements for healthy adolescents. Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News medical contributor, concurred that healthy children and teens are lower priority for the COVID vaccine.
Despite these declarations found on the WHO’s website, the CDC has added the COVID vaccine to its recommended adolescent immunization schedule.
This addition sends the total amount of childhood vaccines (from birth to age 18) to over 70 doses. Inclusion of the COVID vaccine on the CDC’s childhood immunization schedule may also give each individual state the power to require the coronavirus shots for public and private schooling.
Add comment