Guidance on developing national COVID-19 vaccination policy and integrating COVID-19 vaccination into national immunization programmes and broader health care delivery mechanisms in the WHO European Region: August 2023

Overview

The epidemiological situation of COVID-19 has evolved considerably over the past three years, with the emergence of new variants and the development of population-level immunity due to vaccination, infection-induced immunity or both (‎hybrid immunity)‎. While SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to circulate, the third year of the pandemic has seen a marked reduction in rates of hospitalization, admission to ICU and deaths across all age groups, globally. Certain population groups continue to be at greater risk of severe disease. Aligned with the updated recommendations from the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (‎SAGE)‎, this document outlines considerations for the countries of the WHO European Region in developing their national COVID-19 vaccination policy, and planning, implementing and monitoring integration of COVID-19 vaccination into national immunization programmes and broader health systems. The efforts of the countries to integrate COVID-19 vaccination within their broader health systems will lay the grounds to operationalize the strategic priority of life-course vaccination of the European Immunization Agenda 2030.