The World Health Organization has demanded a pause on booster shots of the Covid19 vaccine till September end at least. According to WHO Chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, pausing the booster shots will allow at least 10% of each country’s population to get their regular vaccination shots.
Quite a lot of wealthier countries announced their plans on starting the booster shot program as Delta variant spreads across the world. However, WHO has issued a warning of poorer nations falling behind in vaccinating their population due to low supply. According to a report, poorer countries could only manage 1.5 doses for every 100 people because of the short supply. WHO says it needs to be changed, and the majority of the vaccines should be provided to low-income countries so that they can vaccinate their people.
Dr. Tedros further added, “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”.
It is quite a responsible call from the organization, to lower down the discrimination between developed and underdeveloped nations. WHO is working on vaccinating 10% population of every country by September, but it seems impossible, looking at the current rate of vaccinations.
Vaccination rate across the world
The Democratic Republic of Congo and Haiti could only provide a single shot to their population, and not a single person has received the second shot so far.
Delta variant recently struck Indonesia causing an increase in the number of infections and death rate. Only 7.9% of the total population received both doses.
Wealthier nations are going for booster shots!
On the other hand, Israel started administering booster shots for the population over 60years of age. Whereas Germany also made an announcement of the third dose of Moderna and Pfizer for the population. Similarly, UK also classified millions of people as vulnerable and suggested administering the third shot starting from September.
There have been no announcements in the US regarding the administration of the third dose. But the White House stated that they have a stock of vaccines available to distribute among other countries while also fully vaccinating the Americans. “We definitely feel like it’s a false choice and we can do both,” says White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
It is not the first time that WHO and Dr. Tedros instructed developed nations to provide vaccine supplies to the poorer countries. In May also, he asked the wealthier countries to avoid vaccinating children and teenagers, and instead donate the vaccines to low-income countries. He is constantly urging countries to provide more supplies to Covax; the global fair-access scheme. However, it is not working and most countries including UK, UAE, and some other middle east countries are continuing with their plans of vaccinating teenagers and children.
The latest Delta variant is even more life-threatening than the original strain. So naturally, every government is trying its best to protect the nation. However, the poor countries are suffering the most from this pandemic. Most of the nations have not got even a single dose of vaccine, let alone booster shots. Vaccination is extremely important as that it is the only way to fight the virus and control its severity.
