WHO Asks for Moratorium on COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters

In a press briefing today, the WHO’s Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he would like to see a moratorium on all COVID-19 booster vaccine shots including high-risk populations such as health-care workers and the elderly—at least through September. He would like to see other countries who have not had access to even the first doses of the vaccines get an opportunity.

“We cannot and should not 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,” WHO Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Just last week, the Director-General discussed the disparity going on in the developing world, and specifically in Africa, when it came to vaccines.

“All regions are at risk, but none more so than Africa,” Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “On current trends, nearly 70% of African countries will not reach the 10% vaccination target by the end of September.”

The WHO Director-General said the organization’s goal remains to support every country to vaccinate at least 10% of its population by the end of September, at least 40% by the end of this year, and 70% by the middle of next year.