The WHO has called for a moratorium on booster doses
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) is urging
developing countries to refrain from giving booster doses of the coronavirus at
least until the end of this year so that developing countries can get more
vaccine doses.
The agency's director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, made the request at a news conference on Wednesday.
He said the WHO had set a goal for each country to vaccinate
at least 10 percent of its population by the end of September. He noted that
about 90 percent of high-income countries have reached that goal, but none of
the low-income countries have yet reached that goal.
Tedros said they had donated 15 percent less vaccines than
the high-income countries had promised in the international vaccine
distribution framework, or the COVAX program.
Several other countries, including developed ones, have
begun preparations to give people a third dose of the vaccine, with the spread
of highly contagious delta forms. Tedros called on those countries to suspend
booster doses until at least the end of this year so that each country can
vaccinate at least 40 percent of its population.
Last month, the WHO called for a global moratorium on
booster doses by the end of this month.
