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WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: "Cannot accept that countries that have already used the majority of the global vaccine are now using even more of it"
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SALVATORE DI NOLFI / EPA-EFE / REX
The Director of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called for no vaccines to be used until at least the end of September to give people a third vaccination as a booster.
The reason is the continuing international shortage of vaccines.
On the African continent, for example, less than two percent of people are currently fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
This means: Even people who, due to their age, have a particularly high risk of a severe course of Covid 19 or who have a particularly high risk of infection due to their occupation in the medical field, are often not yet vaccinated.
Third-party vaccinations for risk groups are being discussed in Germany, but Israel is already offering them: People aged 60 and over, whose second Covid-19 vaccination was more than five months ago, can receive a third dose of the product from Biontech / Pfizer.
"While hundreds of millions of people are waiting for their first dose of vaccination, some rich countries are already moving towards booster doses," Tedros said on Wednesday.
He called for a moratorium that should last until at least the end of September.
The goal is to vaccinate at least ten percent of the population in each country by that time.
“I can understand that all governments want to protect their people from the Delta variant.
But we cannot accept that states that have already used the bulk of the global vaccine are now using more of it, while the most vulnerable are left unprotected. "
"We should focus on giving the people at greatest risk of serious illness and death the first and second dose of vaccine," said Katherine O'Brien of the WHO during the press conference.
She added that it was also not yet clear whether booster vaccinations were necessary.
The WHO announcement does not refer to individual cases such as organ transplants, for whom a third vaccination is sometimes recommended because the first two have not yet produced an adequate immune response.
wbr / rtr