Booster shots battle: US, WHO disagree on whether we need them or not

The battle between the United States and the World Health Organization over whether or not booster shots are necessary intensified Wednesday. The video above shows the expression of two very different opinions between U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy and members of the WHO.

Dr. Murthy’s comments came during Wednesday’s White House COVID-19 Response Team briefing. “Having reviewed the most current data, it is now our clinical judgment that the time to lay out a plan for COVID-19 boosters is now” Murthy said. “Recent data makes clear that protection against mild and moderate disease has decreased over time. This is likely due to both waning immunity and the strength of the widespread Delta variant.”

At the briefing, Murthy announced plans to offer booster shots to all American adults starting Sept. 20. “I want to be very clear, this plan is pending the FDA conducting an independent evaluation of the safety and effectiveness of a third dose of the Pfizer and Moderna MRNA vaccines and the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices issuing booster dose recommendations based on a thorough review of the evidence,” Murthy said.

The announcement came on the same day the WHO stood their ground in the battle saying countries should not yet offer booster shots. “The analysis is extremely complicated because obviously we have not many studies, we have different vaccines, we have the emergence of variants and we have different population groups,” WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization Dr. Joachim Hombach said. “But what is clear is that we do not have sufficient information and the data are not suggestive that at that point in time we need booster vaccinations.”

Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made a moral argument. “To overcome these fragile times we must do better at sharing resources and health tools,” Dr. Ghebreyesus said. “Our mutual resilience is only as strong as our weakest bond. Vaccine injustice is a shame on all humanity and if we don’t tackle it together, we will prolong the acute stage of this pandemic for years when it could be over in a matter of months.”