The World Health Organization called for a moratorium on COVID-19 vaccine booster shots on Wednesday until people in poorer countries, which are lagging far behind in vaccination numbers, can get their initial shots.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, pointed to the vast disparities in vaccination figures between wealthy and impoverished countries.
“So far, more than 4 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally. More than 80% have gone to high- and upper-middle-income countries, even though they account for less than half of the world’s population,” he said.
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“I understand the concern of all governments to protect their people from the delta variant. But we cannot accept countries that have already used most of the global supply of vaccines using even more of it, while the world’s most vulnerable people remain unprotected,” Tedros added.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki responded to the WHO on Wednesday, saying the call for a booster moratorium is a “false choice” and that the United States could proceed with booster shots while also contributing to the world supply.
A joint statement by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said in July that fully vaccinated people “do not need a booster shot at this time.” The statement added that the organizations were conducting tests to see whether booster shots would be needed in the future.
The WHO recommendation is not legally binding, leading the director-general to urge individuals in positions of power to put the moratorium into practice.
“And we call on everyone with influence — Olympic athletes, investors, business leaders, faith leaders, and every individual in their own family and community — to support our call for a moratorium on booster shots until at least the end of September,” he said.
The U.S. has administered 105 doses for every 100 people, while Canada has administered 132. The highest number of doses per capita has been administered by the United Arab Emirates — 173 doses for every 100 people, according to the New York Times’s COVID-19 world vaccination tracker.
Meanwhile, most third-world countries have not even reached double digits. In Haiti and Congo, only 0.1 doses have been administered for every 100 people, the lowest rate in the world.
Tedros stated that the reason for poorer countries’ dearth of vaccinations is a lack of supply and that the current WHO drive for a moratorium on booster shots is meant to close this gap.
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Doctors Without Borders released a statement in July, issuing a similar denouncement of considerations by developed countries, such as the U.S., to begin administering booster shots.
“We’re in this devastating place of vaccine inequity precisely because pharmaceutical corporations prioritized profits over lives, and the countries where these companies are primarily based decided to pursue a ‘me first’ approach,” Kate Elder, a senior vaccines policy adviser to Doctors Without Borders, said.
“Rich governments need to urgently redistribute those doses to the rest of the world. The longer billions of people remain unvaccinated, the more variants will develop that threaten all of us. This profit-driven and self-centered approach is not only morally questionable, but shortsighted,” she added.
