Aug 20, 2021 05:04 PM
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/08/...-hates-it/
EXCERPT: US officials on Wednesday formally announced plans to offer COVID-19 vaccine booster shots to Americans—and the plans are already under fire from experts at the World Health Organization.
US officials are recommending that all Americans vaccinated with two doses of an mRNA vaccine (either the Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine) get a third booster dose of the same vaccine eight months after receiving their second dose. As such, boosters will be rolled out based on the order in which people were initially offered vaccines, i.e., with frontline health workers, nursing home residents, and other seniors at the front of the line.
[...] Just hours earlier on Wednesday, the World Health Organization held its own press briefing. Its experts minced no words on why they think the booster rollout is a bad idea.
"The reality is right now, today, if we think about this in terms of an analogy, we're planning to hand out extra life jackets to people who already have life jackets while we're leaving other people to drown without a single life jacket. That's the reality," Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO's Health Emergencies Programme, said at the briefing. "The science is not certain on [boosters]," he added. "There are clearly more data to collect. But the fundamental, ethical reality is [that] we're handing out second life jackets while leaving millions and millions of people without anything to protect them."
The WHO's sharp criticism of the US plan is no surprise. Earlier this month, the United Nations agency called for a moratorium on booster shots until at least the end of September, which would provide more time to try to vaccinate at least 10 percent of every country worldwide. In making the announcement, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that high-income countries had administered 100 doses per 100 people, while low-income countries had only administered 1.5 doses per 100 people due to inequitable access to supplies.
But the argument for equal distribution of vaccines worldwide isn't merely a moral one; it's also in the best interest of public health globally. While the pandemic coronavirus is able to freely spread among unvaccinated people anywhere, it will have new opportunities in each infected person to mutate and generate more variants.
[...] In their defense of the booster rollout, US officials noted that the country has already donated more doses than any other country in the world. (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPT: US officials on Wednesday formally announced plans to offer COVID-19 vaccine booster shots to Americans—and the plans are already under fire from experts at the World Health Organization.
US officials are recommending that all Americans vaccinated with two doses of an mRNA vaccine (either the Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine) get a third booster dose of the same vaccine eight months after receiving their second dose. As such, boosters will be rolled out based on the order in which people were initially offered vaccines, i.e., with frontline health workers, nursing home residents, and other seniors at the front of the line.
[...] Just hours earlier on Wednesday, the World Health Organization held its own press briefing. Its experts minced no words on why they think the booster rollout is a bad idea.
"The reality is right now, today, if we think about this in terms of an analogy, we're planning to hand out extra life jackets to people who already have life jackets while we're leaving other people to drown without a single life jacket. That's the reality," Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO's Health Emergencies Programme, said at the briefing. "The science is not certain on [boosters]," he added. "There are clearly more data to collect. But the fundamental, ethical reality is [that] we're handing out second life jackets while leaving millions and millions of people without anything to protect them."
The WHO's sharp criticism of the US plan is no surprise. Earlier this month, the United Nations agency called for a moratorium on booster shots until at least the end of September, which would provide more time to try to vaccinate at least 10 percent of every country worldwide. In making the announcement, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that high-income countries had administered 100 doses per 100 people, while low-income countries had only administered 1.5 doses per 100 people due to inequitable access to supplies.
But the argument for equal distribution of vaccines worldwide isn't merely a moral one; it's also in the best interest of public health globally. While the pandemic coronavirus is able to freely spread among unvaccinated people anywhere, it will have new opportunities in each infected person to mutate and generate more variants.
[...] In their defense of the booster rollout, US officials noted that the country has already donated more doses than any other country in the world. (MORE - missing details)