WHO warns against blanket boosters, as vaccine inequity persists

(United Nations News) Blanket COVID-19 vaccine booster programmes could prolong the pandemic and increase inequity, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday. 

“No country can boost its way out of the pandemic,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaking in Geneva during his final press briefing for the year. 

“And boosters cannot be seen as a ticket to go ahead with planned celebrations, without the need for other precautions,” he added. 

The WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) has issued interim guidance on booster doses, expressing concern that mass programmes for countries that can afford them, will exacerbate vaccine inequity. 

Currently, around 20 per cent of all vaccine doses administered are being given as boosters or additional doses. 

Read more at: United Nations News

Source: CARICOM TODAY