WHO: third doses blocked until 2022

World Health Organization president Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called for a global stop to booster injections of the Covid vaccine until next year, arguing that the extra doses should go to low-income nations and not to "healthy" vaccinated people.
"I am calling for an extension of the Moratorium (of the third dose) until at least the end of the year, to allow all countries to vaccinate at least 40% of its population," Tedros said in a briefing on Wednesday. He added that while nearly all of the wealthier countries hit the 10% vaccination threshold, and some two-thirds hit the 40% mark, "not a single low-income country has hit the target."

There has been a lot of talk about the vaccine's equity, but too little action. We don't want any more promises – we just want vaccines.

The WHO chief acknowledged that there may be a need to administer additional doses to people with compromised immune systems or who are no longer producing antibodies, "but insisted that, for now, boosters should not be given to those who are relatively healthy and already vaccinated.

We don't want to see widespread use of boosters for healthy people who are fully vaccinated.

Tedros did not stop his words in addressing the big pharmaceutical companies and their allies in governments around the world, arguing that the companies only deal with the established who pay "top-dollar" while the poorer nations receive little later.

He said: "I will not remain silent when the companies and countries that control the global supply of vaccines think that the world's poor should be satisfied with the leftovers."

Because manufacturers prioritized or were legally forced to fulfill bilateral deals with rich countries willing to pay countries in dollars, low-income countries were deprived of the tools to protect their people.

The goal of the WHO is to reach 40% of world vaccinations, especially in the poorest areas, and for this reason it tries to better distribute the doses, among you, instead of giving bragging rights to some rich countries and zero to poor ones.