WHO Wants Moratorium on Booster Shots Until Low Income Countries Catch up
Voice of America
The World Health Organization’s director-general is calling for a worldwide moratorium on COVID-19 booster shots until at least the end of September, to allow low-income nations to get more initial vaccination doses.
At a media briefing at the agency’s Geneva headquarters, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus once again brought up inequities in worldwide vaccine allocation, noting more than 80 percent of the four billion COVID-19 vaccine doses administered globally are going to high- and upper-middle income countries, “even though they account for less than half of the world’s population." And now, the WHO chief said, some of those nations are moving toward administering booster shots to protect against the delta variant of the virus that causes COVID-19, while millions in low-income countries are waiting for their first shot. Tedros said lower income nations have vaccinated at a rate of about 1.5 doses per 100 people, while wealthy nations are vaccinating at rate of nearly 100 per 100 people. He said, “We need an urgent reversal, from the majority of vaccines going to high-income countries, to the majority going to low-income countries.”Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, center, prepares for a sentencing hearing in state district court in Santa Fe, New Mexico, April 15, 2024. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool) FILE - A musician plays a violin behind a photograph of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a vigil in her honor in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Oct. 23, 2021.
Performers take part in the final dress rehearsal of the flame lighting ceremony for the Paris Olympics, at the Ancient Olympia site, Greece, April 15, 2024. Actress Mary Mina, playing a priestess, hands an olive branch to the first torch bearer, Greek olympic gold medalist Stefanos Douskos, during the final dress rehearsal of the flame lighting ceremony for the Paris Olympics at the Ancient Olympia site, Greece, April 15, 2024. Actress Mary Mina, playing a priestess, lights the flame during the final dress rehearsal of the flame lighting ceremony for the Paris Olympics, at the Ancient Olympia site, Greece, April 15, 2024. Performers take part in the final dress rehearsal of the flame lighting ceremony for the Paris Olympics, at the Ancient Olympia site, Greece, April 15, 2024.
FILE - Canada's Chloe Dufour-Lapointe competes in a World Cup freestyle moguls competition at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah, on Jan. 14, 2022. A scoreboard at the University of Utah promotes Salt Lake City's bid to host another Winter Olympics in 2034 as International Olympic Committee members prepare to tour the stadium and other venues April 10, 2024, in Salt Lake City. The 2002 Winter Olympic rings are shown outside Rice-Eccles Stadium, April 10, 2024, in Salt Lake City.