Giving booster shots to healthy people ‘not right’: WHO

World Health Organization officials called again for richer countries to stop distributing Covid vaccine booster doses and instead make more doses available for poorer nations with lagging immunization rates.

The WHO lacks sufficient scientific evidence to condone the widespread use of boosters, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing Tuesday. The organization has been working to address vaccine inequities since last winter, asking world leaders Sept. 8 to impose a moratorium on third doses through the end of the year to redirect surplus vaccines to low-income nations.

“There are countries with less than 2% vaccination coverage, most of them in Africa, who are not even getting their first and second dose” Tedros said. “And starting with boosters, especially giving it to healthy populations, is really not right.”