The World Health Organization (WHO) has asked wealthier countries to put a brake on booster vaccines for Covid-19. The global health body has said that they need to halt the vaccination of booster doses at least by the September end.
As per the statement issued by the WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanon Ghebreyesus, at least 10% of the population in every country needs vaccination.
While the wealthier countries have already subjected their population to Covid-19 vaccines, poorer countries struggle to do so. This is what is disturbing the World Health Organization leaders.
Countries like Isreal and Germany have already completed the vaccination of two doses. And they are not preparing for the administration of the third dose.
The booster dose is what people need to gain more protection against the coronavirus. Dr. Tedros has expressed his concern that poorer nations are lagging in the vaccination drive.
Lack of Availability of Vaccines
Poorer countries don’t have a sufficient supply of vaccines, due to which they are failing to administer a sufficient number of doses. WHO has said that low-income countries have only administered 1.5 doses for every 100 people due to the lack of supply.
The WHO Chief believes the wealthier nations must halt their booster vaccine to supply vaccines to lower-income countries. He said that the wealthier nations have already used most of the global supply of vaccines.
So, it is not acceptable that they use more to protect their citizens from the Delta variant. Stating the need to narrow the gap between high-income and low-income nations, Dr. Tedros calls for the supply of vaccines to poorer nations.
Slow Pace of Vaccination
The WHO has stated that 10% of citizens from each country should be vaccinated by the next month. It said that the target is unlikely to meet keeping in mind the current speed of vaccination.
Moreover, the WHO says countries like Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo have not administered two doses to any population. In addition, it said Indonesia, which is seeing a spike in infections and deaths due to the Delta variant, has only vaccinated 7.9% of its population.
Countries such as Germany, Israel, and the UK have already started vaccination for the booster dose. Dr. Tedros has not asked for the donation of vaccines supplies to low-income countries for the first time.
Earlier in May, the WHO chief asked wealthier nations to delay administering vaccines to children and teenagers.
