The World Health Organization (WHO) has criticised the prevailing idea of blanket administration of booster doses of vaccines against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), pointing out that undertaking such a policy will widen the pre-existing vaccine inequality among the first-world and relatively poorer nations.

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Speaking on the matter, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a news briefing on Wednesday that blanket Covid-19 booster programs are also likely to prolong the pandemic, rather than ending it, “by diverting supply [of vaccines] to countries that already have high levels of vaccination coverage”. This will give the coronavirus “more opportunity to spread and mutate” thus potentially extending the pandemic, the WHO chief said.

Why is blanket booster policy not a good idea?

The WHO, in consultation with the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunisation and its Covid-19 Vaccines Working Group, has concluded that the vast majority of hospitalisations and deaths from coronavirus disease are currently among unvaccinated people and not those who have received the jab or booster doses.

“No country can boost its way out of the pandemic,” said the WHO director-general during the press conference.

In its interim statement about Covid-19 booster doses, issued on December 22, the WHO made it clear that the focus of immunisation efforts must remain on decreasing death and severe disease, and the protection of the healthcare system. This is especially important in light of the emergence of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, which is said to be highly infectious and capable of undergoing frequent mutations.

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“In the context of ongoing global vaccine supply constraints and inequities, broad-based administration of booster doses risks exacerbating vaccine access by driving up demand in countries with substantial vaccine coverage and diverting supply while priority populations in some countries, or in subnational settings, have not yet received a primary vaccination series,” the WHO statement read.

According to the UN agency, hurdles in access and distribution have led to prevailing inequities in vaccine supply, which can only be resolved by high coverage and the respective countries’ commitment to meet global vaccination targets and to assist other countries in need.

Projections made by the public health body show that only by the second half of 2022 will there be sufficient vaccines around the world to undertake the extensive use of boosters in all adults, and beyond, should they be broadly needed. But till then the broad-based booster programmes will only keep widening the existing difference in supply, the WHO concluded.

Read the interim statement on booster doses for Covid-19 vaccination here.