The White House announced that beginning September 20, the United States will offer COVID-19 booster shots (CNN) to fully vaccinated adults. Federal health officials said (White House) a nationwide rise in virus cases and evidence of waning vaccine protection prompted the decision.
Officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) and other health experts warned wealthy countries against offering boosters (Nature) while much of the world has yet to receive a single vaccine dose. Mike Ryan, the executive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, likened the decision to “handing out extra life jackets” to people who already have them while others are left to drown. Biden administration officials acknowledged that it is important to continue vaccinating those abroad and said the United States would ramp up donations. The White House also announced vaccine requirements for some nursing-home workers and new COVID-19 funding for state governments. Meanwhile, political battles over mask mandates continue to roil (Reuters) some of the U.S. states where vaccination rates are lowest.
Analysis
“When vaccines are not widely available, we will see more and more countries with uncontrolled outbreaks and new variants emerging. This will keep the COVID-19 pandemic going for years,” McGill University’s Madhukar Pai tells NBC.
“Unless boosters are limited to only the neediest and for whom scientific evidence indicates boosters are necessary, these shots will only further widen the gap between vaccine-haves and vaccine-have-nots,
