COPENHAGEN: A COVID-19 booster shot is a way to keep the most vulnerable safe and not a luxury robbing people who have yet to have even a single jab, a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Monday (Aug 30).
The comments from WHO Europe head Hans Kluge appeared to be more positive than the UN health body’s past assessments of the third vaccinations being administered by a growing number of countries.
Last week, WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said data on the third shots was inconclusive. He had earlier said they should be halted and authorities should focus on getting the doses to poorer nations.
On Monday, Kluge told a press briefing that more studies were showing that third doses protect vulnerable people.
“A third dose of vaccine is not a luxury booster (that is) taken away from someone who is still waiting for a first jab. It’s basically a way to keep the most vulnerable safe,” he said.
Kluge said more evidence was still needed and urged European countries with excess vaccines to share them with other states, particularly in Eastern Europe and Africa.
An increase in COVID-19 transmission rates across Europe over the last two weeks, combined with low levels of vaccination in some countries, was “deeply worrying”, he added.
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