The World Health Organization, with the support of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization and its COVID-19 Vaccines Working Group, is reviewing the emerging evidence on the need for and timing of vaccinating children and adolescents with the currently available COVID-19 vaccines, which have received Emergency Use Listing (EUL).
SAGE is continuously reviewing the literature and has reached out to vaccine manufacturers, the research community and Member States to obtain the most complete and recent data on this issue. This interim statement was developed with additional support from the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group of Experts (STAGE) on maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health, and nutrition.
This interim statement is not a policy recommendation. It examines the role of COVID-19 vaccines in children and adolescents in the global context of inequitable vaccine distribution and access across countries at a time when many countries have not yet achieved high vaccine coverage rates in the highest and high priority-use groups.
