WHO Council Against Making Vaccine Booster Shots Available To All

The World Health Organisation (WHO) continues to oppose making booster shots against COVID-19 universally available in the interests of making first jabs more accessible worldwide.

Alejandro Cravioto, Chairperson of the Independent Advisory Council on Immunisation (SAGE) said on Thursday that it is a matter of fair vaccine distribution.

He said the situation was different for those who had compromised immune systems for whom the council had already recommended a third dose.

He said as long as not enough vaccines were available, the priority must remain to offer everyone in the world a basic one or two dose vaccination against COVID-19.

Cravioto said that full vaccination, meaning two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna jabs, provides people with a good level of protection against severe disease for at least six months.

The Vaccination Council recommends that the first and second doses be given with the same vaccine, if possible but a different shot can be used where capacity problems occur.

The council is still considering the question of whether providing booster shots with a different vaccine might make sense in the interests of providing broader protection.

It is expected to make recommendations in the near future.

(NAN)