WHO: Booster vaccinations in rich countries prolong the pandemic

The third pole, that is, the booster vaccination, with the Covid vaccine, is one of the keys to flattening the fifth wave that is heading towards Europe as much as possible. Current studies show that the two vaccinations do not adequately protect against the new Omikron variant.

Half does not reach the 40% target

However, the World Health Organization sees vaccine distribution as a major problem: booster vaccines in rich countries are likely to be responsible for prolonging the epidemic. “Nationwide stimulus programs are more likely to prolong the epidemic than to end it,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

If the vaccine doses used for this had gone to health workers and people at risk in poor countries, 40 percent of people in all countries would have been vaccinated as early as September. Instead, the booster doses go to rich countries – and the virus could continue to spread rapidly in poor countries.

With a global vaccination rate of 40 percent, the current phase can be declared over in every country. But that’s a long way off: By the end of the year, half of the WHO’s member states will not have reached the 40 percent target.

It’s hard to pass sometimes

The current reports from Austria are all the more bitter: in this country, millions of doses of the vaccine are at risk of expiring soon. This is based on the calculations of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), available exclusively to the American Psychological Association. Even if all those required to be vaccinated received their first, second or third poles in the first quarter and there were several vaccinations for children, according to current projections, 10.2 million doses will be available by the end of March. The transportation of vaccines abroad is still complicated by the veto power of the plant.