The WHO’s latest intervention comes as a number of countries have started, or are considering rolling out booster shots. Israel began administering third shots last month, and France, Germany and the UAE have all announced plans to begin a booster program. Others, like the UK and the US, are still considering it. The US has bought additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine in preparation, but has not made any decision on whether to start rolling them out.
The science on whether boosters are required is still uncertain. “The evidence is evolving, it’s moving,” Kate O’Brien, WHO’s director of immunizations, told reporters at the conference. “We don’t have a full set of evidence around whether this is needed or not.”
Pfizer released data last month that suggested that a third shot gave strong added protection against the delta variant. But existing vaccine regimens have been shown to provide good protection against all the major variants of concern.
Nevertheless, the WHO wants to refocus attention on getting a greater proportion of the world vaccinated before countries consider any sort of top-up. The agency has a target of getting 40% of the world vaccinated by the end of the year, and 70% by mid-2022.
“We need an urgent reversal, from the majority of vaccines going to high-income countries, to the majority going to low-income countries,” said Tedros, who urged vaccine producers to focus on donating to Covax, the scheme set up to get vaccines distributed to poorer countries. Last week, he said the scheme needs a big injection of funds to hit its targets.
The White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the WHO’s intervention a “false choice”, telling the AP that the US will have enough vaccines to donate to poorer countries while also being able to roll out boosters if required.