The WHO Has Called for a Moratorium on Booster Doses

 

     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.