Halt booster shots till year end, urges WHO chief

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said Wednesday that he was “appalled” at comments by a leading association of pharmaceutical manufacturers a day earlier who said vaccine supplies are high enough to allow for both booster shots and vaccinations in countries in dire need of jabs but facing shortages.

“I will not stay silent when companies and countries that control the global supply of vaccines think the world’s poor should be satisfied with leftovers,” he told a news conference in Geneva.

Tedros had previously called for a “moratorium” on booster shots through the end of September. But wealthy nations countries — including Israel, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain and the United States — have begun or are considering plans to offer third shots of two-dose vaccines to their vulnerable people such as the elderly or those with compromised immune systems.

The WHO chief said he received a message of “clear support” from health ministers at a meeting.