Covax vaccines should be given to adults, not children, according to the World Health Organization.
Countries with vaccines to spare should donate them to the global Covax scheme instead of immunising children, the head of the World Health Organisation said.
The US this week authorised the Pfizer vaccine for children aged 12 to 15, and the drug maker is seeking similar approvals in Britain and the EU.
But with the second year of the pandemic on track to be more deadly than the first, doses should be shared with developing countries instead, WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
“I understand why some countries want to vaccinate their children and adolescents, but right now I urge them to reconsider and to instead donate vaccines to Covax,” he said.
Covax, which is run by the WHO and other organisations, is aimed at ensuring that developing countries have access to vaccines.
But vaccination rates are still far higher in wealthy countries, and it is feared that people in some countries may not be immunised until 2024.
