Dear all,
Best wishes to all of you for this new year! The year started with a first extraordinary SAGE meeting on January 19th which focused on major revision to the WHO SAGE Roadmap for Prioritizing Use of COVID-19 Vaccines. While the previous version of the Roadmap was developed in the context of vaccine supply constraints, this updated version pivots to optimization of vaccine use as the supply for countries is easing. The Roadmap now includes the prioritization of vaccine doses beyond 50% population coverage and includes consideration of vaccine use in children and adolescents, as well as prioritization of additional and booster doses.
As it is of critical importance that NITAGs are able to adapt these recommendations to their country context and fully understand SAGE recommendations, the GNN will held a webinar specifically on this topic on Feb 7th from 2.30 – 4pm (Geneva time). Feel free to forward the invitation to relevant focal points in your country.
NITAG publications and updates:
COVID-19 additional and booster Doses:
- ATAGI (Australia) is monitoring evidence on boosters, including boosters for people under the age of 18. There are currently no COVID-19 vaccines registered in Australia as boosters for people under the age of 18 years.
Children and Adolescents :
- STIKO (Germany) recommends booster vaccination for 12 to 17-year-old children and adolescents with the mRNA vaccine Comirnaty (30 μg) in a time window of 3 to 6 months after the completed basic immunization. Update published on Jan 20 2022 here.
- ATAGI stated the dose interval for children at higher risk of COVID-19 (e.g. some underlying medical conditions) may be shortened from 8 to 3 weeks in the context of ongoing community transmission. A list of underlying medical conditions associated with a higher risk of severe COVID-19 are available at the bottom of this page.
Immunocompromised people :
- ATAGI recommendations on the use of a third primary dose of COVID-19 vaccine in individuals who are severely immunocompromised have been updated here.
- The Swedish Public Health Agency recommends that people with severe immunodeficiency get a supplemental dose of covid-19 vaccine earlier, more here.
NUVAXOVID vaccine :
- The French NITAG recommends the NUVAXOVID vaccine for primary vaccination in persons aged 18 years and over. Access the recommendation here.
Adverse events following immunization:
- NACI has issued updated guidance on re-vaccination with COVID-19 vaccines for those who experienced myocarditis and/or pericarditis after a previous dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. NACI continues to recommend that further doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines should be deferred among people who experienced myocarditis (with or without pericarditis) within 6 weeks of receiving a previous dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. This includes any person who had an abnormal cardiac investigation including electrocardiogram (ECG), elevated troponins, echocardiogram or cardiac MRI after a dose of an mRNA vaccine. More here.
Omicron variant:
- JCVI issued a statement that sets out JCVI’s latest considerations and advice on the effectiveness of the COVID-19 booster vaccination programme on the Omicron variant, available here.
ACIP January meeting:
The meeting included presentations on cholera, Tick-borne Encephalitis, influenza and Hep B vaccines. Meeting material is available here.
SAGE resources:
- The WHO interim recommendations for the use of the Novavax NVX-CoV2373 vaccine against COVID-19 are now published, available here along with the annexes and background document.
- The WHO Interim recommendations for use of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, BNT162b2, under Emergency Use Listing, have been updated to reflect new evidence (Interchangeability between vaccine products and platforms and booster doses) and authorization for children.
- SAGE also made substantive changes to the Roadmap for prioritizing uses of COVID-19 vaccines. It takes into account increasing vaccine availability, vaccine coverage rates, and the evolving epidemiological situation including COVID-19 variants of concern. Scenarios in which vaccination coverage exceeds 50% of the population are considered, as are topics such as vaccine use in children and adolescents and prioritization of additional and booster doses in relation to vaccination coverage rates. The revised version is available here.
- Meeting presentations from the SAGE extraordinary meeting on Jan 19th have been posted here.
WHO resources:
USEFUL RESOURCES ON OMICRON: The Omicron technical brief and priority actions for member states was updated on January 7th and is attached in pdf.
Partners’ resources:
- ECDC published an interim analysis of COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness against Severe Acute Respiratory Infection due to laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 among individuals aged 50 years and older, available here.
Interesting reading:
Amanda Cohn, ACIP executive secretary, published an article reflecting on this first year of COVID-19 vaccines implementation and emphasizes the importance of equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2787504
Did you know?
The Healthcare Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela, the Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago, and the Vaccine Development and Manufacturing Company Biofabri have joined forces to establish a knowledge base in Vaccinology in Galicia, Spain, and train interested Professionals in Vaccinology. As part of this, medically trained candidates are invited to apply for the Isabel Zendal fellowship, a two year on-the-job Fellowship in Clinical Research and Applied Vaccinology - see attached.
As always, feel free to reach out for any clarifying points or resources needed.
Best wishes,
Louise