WHO chief urges halt to booster shots
GENEVA – The head of the World Health Organization called on rich countries with large supplies of coronavirus vaccines to refrain from offering booster shots through the end of the year, expanding an earlier request that has largely been unheeded.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said he is “appalled” at comments by a leading association of pharmaceutical manufacturers who said vaccine supplies are high enough to allow for booster shots and vaccinations in countries in dire need of jabs but facing shortages.
“I will not stay silent when companies and countries that control the global supply of vaccines think the world’s poor should be satisfied with leftovers,” he said in Geneva.
Tedros had previously called for a “moratorium” on booster shots through the end of September.
But wealthy nations countries – including Israel, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain and the United States – have begun or are considering plans to offer third shots of twodose vaccines to their vulnerable people.