Covid-19 booster shot a ’scandal’; WHO appeals countries to stop it

The World Health Organization (WHO) has condemned the countries asking citizens to take Covid-19 booster shot to mitigate the transmission of the virus. The WHO said it is vital to ensure the jabs were going to those who needed them most, on the continent and beyond.

"Every day, there are six times more boosters administered globally than primary doses in low-income countries," the WHO chief said, insisting that "this is a scandal that must stop now."

According to the WHO, countries have continued to administer additional doses for their vaccinated population despite repeated calls for a moratorium on boosters until the end of the year to free up jabs for poorer nations.

"It is not just about how many people are vaccinated. It is about who is vaccinated," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Tedros said that it made no sense to give a booster to healthy adults or vaccinate children when senior citizens, medical personnel, and other high-risk group were waiting for their first dose.

"It makes no sense to give boosters to healthy adults, or to vaccinate children, when health workers, older people, and other high-risk groups around the world are still waiting for their first dose," he said.

WHO warned that even in countries where overall vaccination numbers are high, health systems could quickly come under pressure if significant pockets of vulnerable populations remained unvaccinated.

It also pointed to a recent British study that showed a non-vaccinated person has a 32-fold greater risk of dying in this pandemic than a vaccinated person.