Worldwide six times more booster shots of the coronavirus vaccine are being given daily than the primary dose in low-income countries, the director general, World Health Organization said on Friday, inequality was described as “a scam that must stop now.”
Officer, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and others from the WHO have regularly criticized wealthy countries for hoarding vaccines, while low-income countries have too much to vaccinate their elderly, front-line health care workers and other high-risk groups. Not enough dosage. In August, Tedros called for a global moratorium on the booster which he later extended until the end of the year.
However, nations including Germany, Israel, Canada and the United States have gone ahead with booster programs. The WHO said in an email that 92 countries had confirmed programs to provide additional doses and none of them were low-income.
about 28.5 million covid A daily dose of the vaccine is given around the world. According to the WHO, about a quarter of them are boosters or additional doses. (The boosters are meant to increase protection for people who were previously fully vaccinated; additional doses are for immunocompromised people whose initial vaccinations failed to adequately protect them from the virus.)
WHO officials say 1.1 million primary doses are being given in low-income countries, in contrast to the daily dose added of at least 6.9 million globally.
Only 4.5% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, according to our world in data project University of Oxford, a figure that dwarfs rates in wealthier countries.
The United States recently authorized booster shots for some recipients of Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna’s vaccines, and for everyone who receives Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines. This week, Colorado and California announced they would allow booster shots for all vaccinated adults.
Experts in the United States are divided as to whether boosters are necessary for most healthy Americans, and many say the basic course of vaccination provides strong protection against serious illness and hospitalization. Other experts argue that the new data indicates that the boosters counteract the decreased protection.
Tedros also warned that access to vaccines was not enough to contain the virus, pointing to a surge of infections and deaths in Europe, which prompted the Netherlands to plan a partial lockdown, the first recent in the region. The lockdown affects both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
“COVID-19 is increasing in countries with low vaccination rates in Eastern Europe, but also in countries with some of the highest vaccination rates in the world. Western Europe,” Tedros said. “This is another reminder, as we have said time and again, that vaccines do not replace the need for other precautions.”
Every country, he said, should tailor its response to its situation, but also use measures such as physical distancing and masking to help prevent transmission and reduce pressure on health systems.
Officer, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and others from the WHO have regularly criticized wealthy countries for hoarding vaccines, while low-income countries have too much to vaccinate their elderly, front-line health care workers and other high-risk groups. Not enough dosage. In August, Tedros called for a global moratorium on the booster which he later extended until the end of the year.
However, nations including Germany, Israel, Canada and the United States have gone ahead with booster programs. The WHO said in an email that 92 countries had confirmed programs to provide additional doses and none of them were low-income.
about 28.5 million covid A daily dose of the vaccine is given around the world. According to the WHO, about a quarter of them are boosters or additional doses. (The boosters are meant to increase protection for people who were previously fully vaccinated; additional doses are for immunocompromised people whose initial vaccinations failed to adequately protect them from the virus.)
WHO officials say 1.1 million primary doses are being given in low-income countries, in contrast to the daily dose added of at least 6.9 million globally.
Only 4.5% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, according to our world in data project University of Oxford, a figure that dwarfs rates in wealthier countries.
The United States recently authorized booster shots for some recipients of Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna’s vaccines, and for everyone who receives Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines. This week, Colorado and California announced they would allow booster shots for all vaccinated adults.
Experts in the United States are divided as to whether boosters are necessary for most healthy Americans, and many say the basic course of vaccination provides strong protection against serious illness and hospitalization. Other experts argue that the new data indicates that the boosters counteract the decreased protection.
Tedros also warned that access to vaccines was not enough to contain the virus, pointing to a surge of infections and deaths in Europe, which prompted the Netherlands to plan a partial lockdown, the first recent in the region. The lockdown affects both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
“COVID-19 is increasing in countries with low vaccination rates in Eastern Europe, but also in countries with some of the highest vaccination rates in the world. Western Europe,” Tedros said. “This is another reminder, as we have said time and again, that vaccines do not replace the need for other precautions.”
Every country, he said, should tailor its response to its situation, but also use measures such as physical distancing and masking to help prevent transmission and reduce pressure on health systems.
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