Wealthier nations disregarding WHO call for COVID-19 booster moratorium

In a press briefing Wednesday (August 4), Director General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus implored countries to consider a temporary moratorium on COVID-19 booster shots—until at least the end of September—to allow countries with lower vaccination rates to catch up.

More than 80 percent of the vaccines distributed to date have gone to high and upper middle–income countries, Tedros notes, “even though they account for less than half of the world’s population.”

“I understand the concern of all governments to protect their people from the Delta variant, but we cannot and 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 adds.

Several nations, including Germany and Israel, have already rejected the idea of waiting, Reuters reports. “We want to provide the vulnerable groups in Germany with a precautionary third vaccination and at the same time support the vaccination of as many people in the world as possible,” the country’s health ministry tells the outlet. Israel began urging its older citizens to get booster shots at the end of July.

Other nations have similarly indicated plans to provide booster shots in the fall. French President Emmanuel Macron says the country is working on a roll-out plan for boosters in September, according to Reuters; the UK is also preparing to offer additional shots in September, The Washington Post reports.

While the United States has not yet decided whether boosters will be offered, White House press secretary Jen Psaki tells The New York Times that the Biden administration considers the juxtaposition of boosters with primary vaccinations to be “a false choice.”

“We can do both,” she adds, noting the administration’s efforts to distribute vaccines globally.

According to their developers, both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines will likely need boosters to maintain protection, especially against the Delta variant. According to The Wall Street Journal, Moderna President Stephen Hoge says “a dose three of a booster will likely be necessary to keep us as safe as possible” in a business call Wednesday. “What we see is the potential for waning immunity.”

Public health experts continue to note that the likelihood of a vaccine-resistant variant emerging is higher in areas with low vaccination rates. “New variants are most likely to arise in unvaccinated populations,” Ruth Karron, a medical doctor and epidemiologist with Johns Hopkins University, tells NPR. “So the more of the world that’s unvaccinated, the more we are all at risk.”

SEE ALSO:

• Health Policy Watch: WHO calls for G20 support for moratorium on COVID vaccine boosters until end of September
• CNBC: Third COVID vaccine shot for people with weakened immune systems ‘very high priority,’ Fauci says