No additional doses of vaccines are needed against the coronavirus, estimates the World Health Organization (WHO), which is changing its recommendations for the pandemic.

As he estimates, healthy adults they do not need an additional dose of covid-19 vaccines, beyond the basic vaccination and a booster dose, as the health benefits of further doses are small.

For those under 60 with average health risk, as well as for children and adolescents 6 months to 17 years of age with comorbidities, there is no risk from receiving extra booster doses, but “the health benefits are small”.

WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) released its updated recommendations after meeting this week.

The new SAGE recommendations reflect the effects of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus and the high level of immunity the world population now has thanks to infections and high vaccination rates, the WHO noted.

The SAGE proposes three new categories to prioritize covid vaccination based on a person’s risk of developing a severe form of the disease or dying: high, medium or low.

Conversely, the elderly, adults with comorbidities, the immunocompromised, pregnant women and health workers are asked to take extra booster doses. The SAGE recommends an interval of 6 to 12 months between booster doses depending on comorbidity.

However, there is “no relevance” when it comes to data on the effects of covid vaccines in preventing long-term covid.

Almost 13.3 billion doses of covid vaccines have been administered worldwide.

WHO is researching new vaccines that cover a wide range of variant strains, have longer duration and better results in preventing infection and disease transmission.

At the same time, it examines new methods of administering the vaccines, such as through the nose, orally or through the skin.