Critical Sex and Gender Considerations for Equitable Research, Development and Delivery of COVID-19 Vaccines

Overview

The purpose of this working paper is to present some examples with supporting evidence about key sex and gender considerations in COVID-19 vaccine research, development and delivery. The working paper is not meant to provide a systematic review or comprehensive overview of the literature on the topic, but rather to share evidence of areas where sex or gender have been shown to influence vaccine response, development, acceptance or access. We examined review articles and primary research articles identified through searches on PubMed, Google Scholar and the WHO website. Additional sources were identified through references of some of these articles and input from SAGE (Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization) members. The initial draft of the working paper was shared with the WHO SAGE COVID-19 vaccine working group to seek their scientific input. The subsequent version, incorporating the comments from the SAGE COVID-19 vaccine working group, was reviewed by WHO SAGE and their inputs were incorporated to produce the current version.