Misinformation About WHO's COVID-19 Vaccine Guidance for Children - FactCheck.org

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A World Health Organization advisory group has concluded that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine “is suitable for use by people aged 12 years and above,” and is specifically recommending it for children ages 12 to 15 who are at high risk of severe COVID-19. The WHO did not say “stop giving kids the vaxx immediately,” as some have claimed online.

No vaccine or medical product is 100% safe, but large randomized controlled trials, involving tens of thousands of people and reviewed by multiple groups of experts, revealed no serious safety concerns and showed that the benefits outweigh the risks. 

As with any vaccine, safety is also being monitored as the shots are rolled out to members of the public to ensure there are no side effects of concern. A very small number of severe allergic reactions, for example — which are expected with any vaccine — have occurred with some of the authorized COVID-19 vaccines. The CDC said the reaction – anaphylaxis – occurred in 2 to 5 people per million vaccinated. This reaction “almost always occurs” within a half hour of receiving a shot, and vaccination providers have medicine to immediately treat it, the CDC said.

Also, after investigating 15 cases of a rare clotting condition out of nearly 8 million Johnson & Johnson vaccinations, the CDC and Food and Drug Administration are warning of a suggested increased risk of the conditions, which occurred in women and resulted in three deaths as of April 21. The CDC said “women younger than 50 years old especially should be aware of the rare risk of blood clots with low platelets after vaccination, and that other COVID-19 vaccines are available where this risk has not been seen.” For more, see “Q&A on the Rare Clotting Events That Caused the J&J Pause.” (As of May 24, the agencies had identified 32 total cases among more than 10.2 million J&J vaccines administered. There still have been three deaths, as of May 7, according to the CDC.)

For the COVID-19 vaccines, the CDC and FDA vaccine monitoring systems include a new smartphone-based tool called v-safe that allows enrollees to report any reactions to the vaccine.

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The World Health Organization said the English version of its COVID-19 advice page for the public was updated on June 22 to reflect more recent interim recommendations that WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts released June 15.

Importantly, WHO’s updated guidance said that its advisory group “has concluded that the Pfizer/BionTech vaccine is suitable for use by people aged 12 years and above.”

As of June 25, the page stated:

WHO COVID-19 Vaccines Advice page, June 25: Children and adolescents tend to have milder disease compared to adults, so unless they are part of a group at higher risk of severe COVID-19, it is less urgent to vaccinate them than older people, those with chronic health conditions and health workers.

More evidence is needed on the use of the different COVID-19 vaccines in children to be able to make general recommendations on vaccinating children against COVID-19.

The WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) has concluded that the Pfizer/BionTech vaccine is suitable for use by people aged 12 years and above. Children aged between 12 and 15 who are at high risk may be offered this vaccine alongside other priority groups for vaccination. Vaccine trials for children are ongoing and WHO will update its recommendations when the evidence or epidemiological situation warrants a change in policy.

So, the WHO says the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine may be used for children 12 and up. And out of concern for countries where the vaccine supply is still very low — not concern about the safety of the vaccine — the WHO recommends the shots be prioritized for individuals age 12 to 15 who are at high risk for COVID-19, specifically.

For the other available COVID-19 vaccines, the WHO says more information is needed before it can recommend their use for children and adolescents.

But the WHO’s seven-day delay in posting the update caused confusion online.

Some social media posts falsely claimed that “WHO is now recommending that children DO NOT get the COVID-19 vaccine,” and that the WHO said “stop giving kids the vaxx immediately.”

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene also tweeted June 22, “The WHO says ‘children should not be vaccinated.'”

Such claims were based on outdated guidance that was still on the WHO’s English advice page before it was updated June 22.

As of at least June 21, that page said:

WHO COVID-19 Vaccines Advice page, June 21:

Children should not be vaccinated for the moment.

There is not yet enough evidence on the use of vaccines against COVID-19 in children to make recommendations for children to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Children and adolescents tend to have milder disease compared to adults. However, children should continue to have the recommended childhood vaccines.”

That led at least one website to misleadingly report: “The World Health Organization (WHO) published revised advice on June 21, 2021, clarifying which populations should receive COVID-19 vaccines. The WHO’s website now states, ‘Children should not be vaccinated for the moment.'”

Photo by Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images

That wasn’t new guidance, as that story suggested. That language had been used on the page since at least early April, according to archived versions of the page.

In North America, it wasn’t until May 5 that Canada authorized the use of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in children 12 to 15 years of age. Then the U.S. Food and Drug Administration followed with its own expanded authorization of the vaccine for that age group on May 10. (Canada and the U.S. had previously authorized use of the vaccine for people 16 and older in December 2020.)

The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts met May 27 to propose recommendations to the WHO on the use of COVID-19 vaccines, and SAGE’s interim guidance on the Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines was released June 15.

As it relates to vaccines for children, the guidance documents for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines advise against use for individuals under age 18, as more information on those vaccines’ safety and efficacy in children is still needed.

However, the guidance document for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, or BNT162b2, said:

WHO interim guidance on the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, June 15: For children and adolescents COVID-19 is rarely severe. Evidence suggests that adolescents, particularly older adolescents, are as likely to transmit SARS-CoV-2 as adults. WHO recommends that countries should consider using BNT162b2 in children aged 12 to 15 only when high vaccine coverage with 2 doses has been achieved in the high priority groups as identified in the WHO Prioritization Roadmap.

Children 12-15 years of age with comorbidities that put them at significantly higher risk of serious COVID-19 disease, alongside other high-risk groups, may be offered vaccination.

There are currently no efficacy or safety data for children below the age of 12 years. Until such data are available, individuals below 12 years of age should not be routinely vaccinated.

But those recommendations weren’t added to the WHO’s advice page until June 22, after social media posts based on the out-of-date guidance went viral.

So far, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is the only COVID-19 immunization authorized for children 12 and older in the U.S., although Moderna completed a trial and submitted its application for this age group to the Food and Drug Administration on June 10. Both companies are conducting additional trials in younger children as well.

Editor’s note: SciCheck’s COVID-19/Vaccination Project is made possible by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The foundation has no control over our editorial decisions, and the views expressed in our articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the foundation. The goal of the project is to increase exposure to accurate information about COVID-19 and vaccines, while decreasing the impact of misinformation.

Sources

World Health Organization. COVID-19 advice for the public: Getting vaccinated. Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Archived 25 Jun 2021.

World Health Organization. COVID-19 advice for the public: Getting vaccinated. Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Archived 21 Jun 2021.

World Health Organization. COVID-19 advice for the public: Getting vaccinated. Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Archived 8 Jun 2021.

McClorey Hackett, Karen. “The WHO Says Children Should Not Receive COVID-19 Vaccines.” Precision Vaccinations. 21 Jun 2021.

World Health Organization. “Interim recommendations for use of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, BNT162b2, under Emergency Use Listing.” Interim guidance. 15 Jun

World Health Organization. “Interim recommendations for use of the Moderna mRNA-1273 vaccine against COVID-19.” Interim guidance. 15 Jun 2021.

World Health Organization. “Interim recommendations for the use of the Janssen Ad26.COV2.S (COVID-19) vaccine.” Interim guidance. 15 Jun 2021.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Key Things to Know about COVID-19 Vaccines. Cdc.gov. Accessed 25 Jun 2021.

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