The assurance comes after a number of countries decided not
to give the jab to those aged over 65 due to doubts about its effectiveness in
that age group.
South African officials suspended the rollout in their
country after a small trial suggested it may offer less protection against the
variant that originated there.
Dr Alejandro Cravioto, chairman of the WHO's Strategic
Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation, said: "In the case of the data
coming from clinical trials, we have seen that there was a small participation
of people over 65 years of age.
"However, the results of the efficacy estimate for
persons up to 65 and older had a wide confidence interval. And therefore we
feel that the response of this group cannot be any different to groups that are
of a younger age.
"Since we have identified 'people over 65' was one of
our priority groups in the prioritisation roadmap... looking at the safety and
immunogenicity data... we recommend for the vaccine to be used in people 18
years and above, without an upper age limit.