Published by the World Health Organization in its Weekly Epidemiological Record on 10 February 2017, this position paper updates WHO’s 2006 guidance on tetanus vaccines for national public health officials and managers of immunisation programmes. The paper summarises essential background on tetanus and its prevention through immunisation, provides updated recommendations for vaccination, and addresses gaps in tetanus immunity in settings where high coverage with tetanus toxoid-containing vaccine (TTCV) has not been achieved. One of the recommendations is that programmes use opportunities — including voluntary medical male circumcision services for adolescent and adult males — to provide or complete the full TTCV series for those were not vaccinated or were incompletely vaccinated during childhood (see pp. 72–73). WHO has also issued tetanus risk mitigation recommendations for voluntary medical male circumcision services .
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