- A senior WHO official said on Monday that a booster injection of the new crown vaccine should not be given on the grounds of lack of evidence.
- Some countries with advanced vaccine programs are considering a third dose strategy.
- At the same time, billions of people around the world cannot get the first dose.
- For more stories, please visit www.BusinessInsider.co.za.
Officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that the world will “ashamedly” review countries that have boosted the Covid-19 vaccine, while other countries still cannot protect their most vulnerable people.
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros said at a press conference: “The priority now must be to vaccinate those who have not been vaccinated and protected.”
He said that before other countries can vaccinate their health workers and the most vulnerable, the richer countries are ordering millions of boosters.
WHO Chief Scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan said that although “there is no scientific evidence” that a booster dose is needed at this time.
“It is very likely that you will need a booster injection in one or two years, but at this point 6 months after the initial injection, there seems to be no sign,” she said.
She said that advancing recommendations for booster doses must be “based on science and data, not on individual companies’ announcement that their vaccines should now be administered as booster doses.”
Swaminathan’s remarks come as Pfizer is working hard to obtain Approval of booster vaccination in the U.S..
However, the United States still has “a long way to go” before making a decision on intensified injections. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s chief medical adviser, said after a meeting with Pfizer.
Swaminathan said that four countries have announced booster plans, and some countries are considering advancing booster plans.
This includes Israel, starting on Monday Booster doses for people with weakened immune system. Britain also said Consider using a booster dose in the fall.
The deployment of these two countries was rapid and successful, making them one of the best protected countries in the world. They can pay high interest rates and take advantage of supplier relationships that cannot be achieved with small countries.
According to our data world, In low-income countries, only 1% of people have received a dose of the vaccine. Some countries such as Papua New Guinea, Congo, and Chad have vaccination rates less than 0.1% of their population. According to data compiled by the New York Times.
Tan Desai specifically pointed out that Moderna and Pfizer should use limited supplies for vaccine sharing programs such as COVAX, rather than prioritizing supply boosters.
Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO’s head of emergencies, said that if the limited supply were used to boost the dose, the world would look back “angry” and “shame”.
Tan Desai pointed to the “greed” that led to the gap in vaccine supply.
He said: “We are in the midst of an increasingly serious dual-track epidemic, where the rich and poor within and between countries are becoming increasingly divided.”
