WHO warns against booster shots in high-income countries ahead of first doses in poorer countries

“We believe clearly that the data does not indicate that boosters are needed,” says Dr. Soumya Swaminathan

The chief scientist of the World Health Organization is warning of “even more dire situations” worldwide in the coronavirus pandemic if high-income countries start administering vaccine boosters ahead of poorer countries without vaccines. With the U.S. health officials recommending booster shots for all Americans who have already been vaccinated, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan expressed concern that leaving billions of people in the developing world unvaccinated could foster emergence of new variants, like the delta variant, that is driving new cases in the United States and beyond. “We believe clearly that the data does not indicate that boosters are needed,” Dr Swaminathan said at a news conference in Geneva. She expressed more understanding for a recent U.S. decision to administer boosters to people with weaker immune systems.