This new guidance document identifies successful strategies, enablers and examples of successful strategies to identify and offer vaccine doses against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to older adults, especially in low- and middle-income settings.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on older adults, with the highest proportion of severe disease and death concentrated in this age group. Besides these direct outcomes, the sequelae of COVID-19 often result in significant loss of physical and mental capacities and functional ability, requiring additional care.
Reaching this group is difficult in many settings and often requires different strategies owing to its diversity and heterogeneity.
This document is useful for countries that aim to strengthen policy and programmes for vaccinating older adults.
Target audiences for this guide include:
- National and subnational managers of immunization and other programmes who deliver health and social services to older adults.
- Global, regional and country level stakeholders and partners (i.e. nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), community service organizations) who support the design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of COVID-19 vaccinations and care for older adults may find this guidance useful as well.
The document can be found on the WHO website:
https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/369450/9789240066045-eng.pdf