Children at lower risk from Covid, vaccines should go to poor: WHO

Countries with high coverage in at-risk populations should prioritise global sharing, says WHO

GENEVA:

As children and adolescents are at lower risk of severe Covid -19 disease, countries should prioritise sharing vaccine doses with the COVAX programme to bring urgently needed supplies to poorer countries, the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday.

Some rare cases of heart inflammation called myocarditis have been reported in younger men who received mRNA vaccines - Pfizer (PFE.N) and Moderna (MRNA.O) - but these were generally mild and responded to treatment, it said in a statement.

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"As many parts of the world face extreme vaccine shortages, countries with high coverage in at-risk populations should prioritise global sharing of Covid-19 vaccines before vaccinating children, adolescents," the WHO said.