WHO calls for moratorium on third COVID-19 vaccine, as Israel presses on

The World Health Organization called on Wednesday for a temporary prohibition on a third COVID vaccine, yet Israel has already given 150,000 such shots and is continuing at full speed.

By REUTERS, JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Jerusalem resident Klara Brieff is seen getting the third COVID-19 vaccine at a Meuhedet clinic, on August 1, 2021. (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Jerusalem resident Klara Brieff is seen getting the third COVID-19 vaccine at a Meuhedet clinic, on August 1, 2021.
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
The World Health Organization is calling for a moratorium on COVID-19 vaccine boosters until at least the end of September, its head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.
The move was to enable that at least 10% of the population of every country was vaccinated, WHO Director-General Tedros said.
The call to stop COVID-19 vaccine boosters is the strongest yet from the UN agency as the gap between inoculation rates in wealthy and poor countries widens.
"I understand the concern of all governments to protect their people from the Delta variant. But we cannot accept countries that have already used most of the global supply of vaccines using even more of it," Tedros added.
High-income countries administered around 50 doses for every 100 people in May, and that number had since doubled, according to WHO. Low-income countries have only been able to administer 1.5 doses for every 100 people, due to lack of supply.
"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.
Some countries have begun to use or started weighing on the need for booster doses.
Germany said on Monday it will in September start to offer a booster shot to vulnerable people. The United Arab Emirates will also start providing a booster shot to all fully vaccinated people considered at high risk, three months after their second vaccine dose, and six months for others.
The United States in July signed a deal with Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech to buy 200 million additional doses of their COVID-19 vaccines to help with pediatric vaccination as well as possible booster shots.
US health regulators are still assessing the need for a booster dose.

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In addition, Britain announced that they will offer COVID-19 booster vaccines to 32 million Britons starting early next month with up to 2,000 pharmacies set to deliver the program, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. It remains to be seen how the WHO announcement will affect Britain's policy.
The WHO announcement comes just days after Israel began its campaign to give booster shots to people over the age of 60. Many public figures have already received the extra vaccine, such as President Isaac Herzog and opposition head Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel is currently the only country to administer booster shots, once again putting it at the forefront of the global fight against the pandemic.
Some 142,000 had already received it as of Tuesday afternoon.
The Health Ministry’s coronavirus vaccination committee voted by an almost unanimous majority of 56-1 last week to administer the third shot of the Pfizer vaccine to elderly people who had been jabbed more than five months ago.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett explained at the time that the decision was based on considerable research and analysis, such as a Pfizer study that showed that a third dose of the vaccine increased antibodies by five to 11 times, as well as the rise and risk of the Delta variant wave. According to Bennett, Israel had already vaccinated 2,000 immunosuppressed people with a third dose with no severe adverse events. He promised to share all the information Israel had with the rest of the global community.


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