The World Health Organization (WHO) again asked world leaders to hold off on administering COVID-19 vaccine booster shots until at least the end of September to give lower income nations a chance to vaccinate more of their populations.
More than 5 billion COVID vaccines have now been administered globally, according to the WHO, with nearly 75% of that total being from just 10 countries. To break that down further, less than 2% of adults are fully vaccinated in low-income nations, compared to almost 50% in high-income nations; the United States, for example, has fully vaccinated nearly 53% of its population, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
"That's why I have called for a moratorium on boosters, at least until the end of this month, to allow those countries that are furthest behind to catch up," WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press briefing on Wednesday.
Tedros noted that while the global health agency does find it necessary for at-risk populations--such as individuals with cancer, HIV, or are immunocompromised--to receive third dose booster shots due to evidence of waning immunity against severe disease and death overtime, "we do not want to see widespread use of boosters for healthy people who are fully vaccinated" at this time.
In the U.S., 1.15 million fully vaccinated people have received an additional dose of either vaccine developed by Moderna
Dr. Anthony Fauci, top U.S. infectious disease expert and White House Chief Medical Advisor, said Thursday that he would not be surprised if the recommended full regimen of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID vaccine is revised to three doses instead of the current two in the U.S.
"I must say from my own experience as an immunologist, I would not at all be surprised that the adequate full regimen for vaccination will likely be three doses," Fauci said at a White House COVID press briefing on Thursday. Fauci said that giving an additional dose of either vaccine for fully vaccinated people a few months after their initial vaccine regimen to provide a more durable immune response.
Fauci's comments come as President Joe Biden said recently that the federal government is preparing to begin widely distributing COVID vaccine booster shots towards the end of September.
