The risk of developing severe disease, from any variant of the SARS-COV-2 virus, increases with age and is higher for people who are immunocompromised and/or have underlying conditions including diabetes, hypertension, and obesity.

It is especially important that all people in these high-risk groups receive all recommended doses of COVID-19 vaccine to provide the best possible protection against severe disease, hospitalization and potentially also death.

In general, only persons with a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) to the first dose should not receive additional doses of the same vaccine.