COVID-19: WHO Chief reiterates booster shots won't prevent pandemic, seeks vaccine equity

The World Health Organization's (WHO) Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, reiterated on January 6 that booster doses in a small number of nations will not prevent a pandemic while billions remain unprotected. He explained that first and foremost, COVID-19 vaccines must be shared effectively across the world. 

The World Health Organization tweeted a statement from the Director-General on Thursday. He said, "Booster after booster in a small number of countries will not end a pandemic while billions remain completely unprotected. But we can and must turn it around. In the short-term, we can end the acute stage of this pandemic while preparing now for future ones."

Last month, the WHO's director-general cautioned that the rush in wealthier nations to provide additional Covid-19 vaccine doses was exacerbating worldwide imbalance in vaccination access and, as a result, prolonging the pandemic. Once again, Tedros emphasised the need of vaccination equity, saying, "First, we must effectively share the [#COVID19] vaccines that are being produced," adding that this was not the case for much of 2021, but supplies grew near the end.

New COVID cases jumped by 71% from Dec 27, 2021, to Jan 2, 2022

Further, WHO stated on Thursday that a record 9.5 million new COVID-19 cases were recorded around the world during the week of December 27-January 2, with Ghebreyesus warning that the tsunami of cases caused by the new Omicron variant was overwhelming health systems around the world. According to the COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update provided by WHO, the global number of new cases jumped by 71% from December 27, 2021, to January 2, 2022, following a progressive increase since October.

The number of new deaths has dropped by 10%. Last week, there were slightly under 9.5 million new cases and nearly 41,000 new fatalities reported. Globally, almost 289 million cases and over 5.4 million fatalities had been reported as of January 2. First-generation vaccines, according to Ghebreyesus, may not prevent all infections and transmission, but they are nevertheless quite successful in lowering hospitalisation and death due to this virus.

Hence, in addition to vaccination, public health social measures such as wearing well-fitting masks, avoiding crowds, and increasing and investing in ventilation are critical for minimising transmission. He underlined the fact that, at the current rate of vaccine rollout, 109 nations will fall short of adequately vaccinating 70% of their citizens by the beginning of July 2022.

Image: AP