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Booster shots for COVID-19
FDA and CDC bow to political pressure
On November 19th, both the FDA and the CDC recommended a COVID-19 booster shot for everyone in the US 18 and older, against recommendations of their advisory committees and bowing to pressure from the White House.
The World Health Organization has asked rich countries to hold off on booster shots until 2022 in order for every country to vaccinate at least 40% of its population. About 80% of the 5.5 billion vaccines doses administered globally have gone to high income countries.
According to an October report, rich countries have about twice the population of low-income countries, but have received 50 times as many COVID-19 vaccine doses. In fact, 50 countries have vaccinated less than 25% of their populations. While only 7% of Africans have been vaccinated against COVID-19, for example, 60 rich nations are now administering booster shots.
When South Africa recently identified the new omicron variant of COVID-19, it became painfully clear that leaving millions unvaccinated worldwide prolongs the pandemic for everyone. According to COVAX, an iniative of the World Health Organization that works for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, “With a fast-moving pandemic, no one is safe, unless everyone is safe.”
