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The World Health Organization is calling for a moratorium on booster shots of COVID-19 vaccines so that countries worldwide can catch up with efforts to vaccinate their most vulnerable populations without further strains on the global supplies of vaccines.
WHO wants all countries to reach at least 10% of their populations vaccinated by the end of September, but many countries are not on track to reach this goal. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general at WHO, said he wants high-income countries to refrain from giving out third shots of vaccines to their populations until at least the end of September.
“Even while hundreds of millions of people are still waiting for their first dose, some rich countries are moving towards booster doses,” he said when speaking to reporters on Wednesday.
Why this matters: Israel began offering booster shots of vaccines to people aged over 60 on Sunday, and Germany is planning to offer third doses for vulnerable groups in September. Other countries are also considering it.
More than 4 billion doses have been administered globally, with more than 80% of those allocated to upper-middle- and high-income countries, even though they account for less than half the world’s population, Tedros said.
“We should not accept countries that have already used most of the global supply of vaccines using even more of it, while the world’s most vulnerable people remain unprotected,” he said.
Incomplete evidence: Katherine O’Brien, director of the department of immunization, vaccines, and biologicals at WHO, said the evidence around the need for a booster shot is evolving and still incomplete.
“We don’t have a full set of evidence over whether this is needed or not,” she said.
In September, WHO will revisit its call for a moratorium to see if it needs to be extended.
About the author
Sara Jervingsarajerving
Sara Jerving is a Senior Reporter at Devex, where she covers global health. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, VICE News, and Bloomberg News among others. Sara holds a master's degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where she was a Lorana Sullivan fellow. She was a finalist for One World Media's Digital Media Award in 2021; a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists in 2018; and she was part of a VICE News Tonight on HBO team that received an Emmy nomination in 2018. She received the Philip Greer Memorial Award from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2014.
