COVID shots are ‘low priority’ for healthy kids, teens, WHO says. What does that mean?

Julia Marnin
·6 min read
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Certain people may benefit more from additional COVID-19 vaccines — but new global guidance says vaccinating healthy children and teenagers against the virus can now be considered a “low priority.”

That’s according to the World Health Organization’s group of vaccine experts, which separated people into three categories to explain who most needs to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, and how many additional boosters are needed.

The WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) announced the changes in a March 28 news release, citing the high amount of people who have some form of immunity from COVID-19 infection and vaccination, and the omicron variant’s impact.

“The revised roadmap reemphasizes the importance of vaccinating those still at-risk of severe disease, mostly older adults and those with underlying conditions, including with additional boosters,” SAGE Chair Dr. Hanna Nohynek said in the news release. “Countries should consider their specific context in deciding whether to continue vaccinating low risk groups, like healthy children and adolescents, while not compromising the routine vaccines that are so crucial for the health and well-being of this age group.”

When it comes to who should receive vaccination for COVID-19 under the new WHO guidance, people are classified as either “high priority,” “medium priority” or “low priority.”

‘High priority’

SAGE advises primary vaccination and additional COVID-19 boosters roughly six to 12 months after the most recent dose for the “high priority” group.

This “high priority” group includes:

  • Older adults (those over 60)

  • Younger adults with comorbidities such as diabetes

  • Immunocompromised individuals including children 6 months and older

  • Pregnant individuals

  • Healthcare workers on the front lines

‘Medium priority’

Of the “medium priority” group — healthy adults under ages of 50 to 60 and children and teens with comorbidities — SAGE recommends these individuals get a primary COVID-19 vaccine series and their first booster doses.

“Although additional boosters are safe for this group, SAGE does not routinely recommend them, given the comparatively low public health returns,” the WHO said.

‘Low priority’

For the low priority group — healthy children and teens — primary vaccines and boosters are “safe and effective.”

But SAGE isn’t recommending them and is advising countries to consider if vaccinating them is a priority.

This is in contrast to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which as of April 4, 2023, recommends COVID-19 vaccines for all those older than six months and boosters for those above the age of 5.

‘Makes a lot of sense’ — but still consider vaccine for kids

The guidance “makes a lot of sense” from a medical standpoint, Dr. Diego Hijano, an infectious disease specialist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s Department of Infectious Diseases, told McClatchy News.

SAGE, he said, is “trying to establish some basic guidance for countries all over the world, irrespective of what their income is and what their level of development is.”

“They’re also looking at the biggest picture and saying kids that are this young will benefit more from other vaccines,” Hijano said, such as measles, chicken pox and pneumococcal vaccines.

Ultimately, Hijano said that if a parent asks whether to vaccinate their child against COVID-19, he still advises doing so.

“While they may be healthy, they may not have a comorbidity, we know that severe disease can still happen even if it’s at low risk,” Hijano said.

He also added that it’s important for everyone to stay up to date on their vaccines as health experts see lingering effects from the virus, which is known as post-COVID-19 conditions or long COVID.

Dr. Ali Mokdad, a professor of Health Metrics Sciences at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, told McClatchy News he also fully agrees with the WHO’s recommendations.

He said the WHO is basically telling everyone that “COVID-19 is still with us. We need to be very careful. We need to give boosters for people who are at high risk. But for the people who are not at high risk, we don’t need to create a campaign to vaccinate them and chase them.”

Other public health priorities such as routine preventive medical care, routine preventive care and routine pregnancy care were put aside during the past three years of COVID-19, but for a good reason, Mokdad said.

“It’s time for us to go back to what’s really important. We need to go back and focus on those and make sure we’re looking at obesity, we’re looking at smoking, we’re looking at diabetes. I mean, these issues that are killing, right now, a lot of Americans, a lot of people all over the world,” Mokdad said.

Mokdad also emphasized the WHO isn’t saying that healthy children shouldn’t get a COVID-19 vaccine. He said parents should follow the WHO’s advice, which suggests it’s not a top priority for the healthiest children, who are at the lowest risk of COVID-19.

The WHO’s revised roadmap says it’s important to focus on the high-risk people as “there is limited supplies, limited finances for every country in the world, and there’s so many health problems out there...let’s make sure we take care of those as well,” Mokdad said.

Hybrid Immunity

Hybrid immunity, meaning a prior COVID-19 infection and vaccination, is “the best protection you get,” according to Hijano.

A large portion of people have been infected with COVID-19 at least once across the globe, Mokdad said, adding he got a mild omicron infection after four COVID-19 vaccine doses.

Typically, protection from a COVID-19 infection lasts for about five to six months before immunity wanes and people can become susceptible to the virus again, according to Mokdad.

He said this is why cycles of COVID-19 infections are seen.

“Every six months you see a rise. So right now we’ve reached that stability where in the United States, there is less of a cycle,” Mokdad said.

He emphasized that while the WHO vaccine recommendations are current, they can always change, especially if a new COVID-19 variant pops up with greater potential to overcome protections afforded from prior vaccination or infection.

What’s next for the future of COVID-19?

In the U.S., the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration, which was established on March 13, 2020, under the Trump administration, is set to end on May 11, according to the White House.

That has left some experts feeling conflicted, as the virus continues to spread and claim the lives of many Americans.

“I think that while it may be okay to sort of move from that emergency preparedness, there’s still a lot of work to do,” Hijano said. “We need to make sure that even as we end the emergency preparedness, there are systems in place where people can still access tests, can still access vaccines, can still access treatments as needed.”

Mokdad said it’s important for every country to continue to keep an eye on COVID-19, including the rate of infections and what variants are circulating.

When asked his thoughts on the U.S. public health emergency declaration expiring, Mokdad said he believes “it’s about time” and “we need to move on,” while acknowledging the situation could change in the future.

He said it’s time for the U.S. to start focusing on other areas, such as socioeconomic status, health disparities and the “issues that are really hurting us” as U.S. life expectancy declines.

As of March 29, COVID-19 cases are trending downward in the U.S., according to the latest CDC data.

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