As wealthy countries rush to roll out COVID-19 booster shots, inequity in access to vaccines is deepening and the epidemic is being prolonged, said the World Health Organization (WHO).
As the highly contagious variant Omicron continues to sweep the globe, countries around the world have intensified third dose administration, expanding the vaccination campaign to younger children, and considering additional booster shots programs.
WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, insisted on Wednesday that vaccines must be provided to vulnerable people instead of providing additional doses to already vaccinated people, because “the vast majority of hospitalizations and deaths are in unvaccinated people, not un-boosted people,” said Tedros.
So far, 120 countries have implemented programs to administer booster vaccines or additional doses, but none are in low-income countries.
According to UN figures, about 67% of people in high-income countries have had at least one vaccine dose, while not even 10% in low-income countries have been inoculated.
The UN health agency has long criticized the glaring inequity in access to COVID-19 vaccines.
Months ago, Tedros called in vain to stop giving booster doses to vaccinated, healthy people until at least 40% of people in all countries have received their first dose.
The WHO said the inequity is allowing COVID-19 to spread unabated globally, leading to the emergence of new, more dangerous strains.
“Blanket booster programs are likely to prolong the pandemic, rather than ending it, by diverting supply to countries that already have high levels of vaccination coverage, giving the virus more opportunity to spread and mutate,” Tedros told reporters on Wednesday, as he added, “No country can boost its way out of the pandemic.”
The WHO comments came as the Omicron variant set countries back from returning to normalcy, dampening hopes that the worst of the pandemic had passed.
The new variant Omicron, which was first detected in November in South Africa, is spreading at an unprecedented speed and has already been detected in 106 countries, according to WHO.
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