WHO reiterates warning against Covid booster injections for healthy people

World Health Organization officials on Tuesday reiterated their protests against the booster injections of Covid-19 for the general public, even as the United States prepares this week to allow their distribution to a large part of the world. ‘America.

WHO strongly opposes the widespread roll-out of booster injections, asking that richer countries instead give extra doses to countries with minimal vaccination rates. The United States has already administered more than 2 million third doses nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a Food and Drug Administration advisory group unanimously recommended boosters for any person 65 years of age and over.

“What the WHO maintains is that booster doses in the general population, who have had wide access to vaccines, who have already been vaccinated, are not the best bet at the moment,” said the Dr Mike Ryan, Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program. during a live question-and-answer session broadcast on the organization’s social media on Tuesday.

Ryan reiterated WHO’s support for third doses given to the elderly, medically vulnerable people and anyone in need of an immune system boost after a full Covid vaccine regimen. He reiterated the organization’s calls for a moratorium on booster injections until the end of the year to give nations enough time to immunize at least 40% of their population against Covid.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on September 14 that most countries with immunization coverage below 2% are in Africa, where less than 3.5% of the continent’s eligible population is fully vaccinated against Covid. Africa will likely miss the WHO target of a 10% vaccination rate by the end of the year, Tedros added.

But in the United States, where nearly 55% of the population is fully vaccinated, according to the CDC, the FDA is expected to issue formal guidance on Pfizer boosters before the CDC holds its two-day meeting on injections on Wednesday and Thursday.

An FDA advisory committee on Friday rejected a proposal to recommend recalls for all Americans over 16, citing concerns about insufficient data and the potential for myocarditis. The group instead scaled back that plan, approving third doses for people 65 and older and other medically vulnerable people.

World leaders also discussed the global immunization effort at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. President Joe Biden will hold a Covid summit on Wednesday to encourage international dignitaries to help improve global vaccine distribution, noting in a speech to the General Assembly that the United States has donated more than 160 million doses of the vaccine Covid to the cause.

“It’s a real moment of truth,” Ryan said. “We, as the world, have another chance, opportunities we’ve never taken before, to focus on vaccine equity.”