Tetanus vaccines: WHO position paper, February 2017 – Recommendations

This article presents the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendations on the use of tetanus toxoid (TT) vaccines excerpted from the WHO position paper on tetanus vaccines – February 2017, published in the Weekly Epidemiological Record [1]. This position paper replaces the May 2006 WHO position paper on tetanus vaccines (Tetanus vaccines: WHO position paper, 2006). The position paper summarizes the recent developments in the field of tetanus prevention and provides revised guidance on the optimal timing of recommended tetanus vaccine booster doses. Footnotes to this paper provide a number of core references including references to grading tables that assess the quality of the scientific evidence, and to the evidence-to-recommendation table. In accordance with its mandate to provide guidance to Member States on health policy matters, WHO issues a series of regularly updated position papers on vaccines and combinations of vaccines against diseases that have an international public health impact. These papers are concerned primarily with the use of vaccines in large-scale immunization programmes; they summarize essential background information on diseases and vaccines, and conclude with WHO’s current position on the use of vaccines in the global context. Recommendations on the use of TT-containing vaccines (TTCVs) were discussed by SAGE in October 2016; evidence presented at the meeting can be accessed at: http://www.who.int/immunization/sage/meetings/2016/october/presentations_background_docs/en/.