After evaluating scant data from seven studies on second booster doses of messenger RNA vaccines, the WHO noted that there was insufficient information to demonstrate their efficacy in young, healthy people.
“In people at higher risk of severe illness or death … the added benefit of a booster dose of mRNA vaccine may be warranted,” the WHO said, acknowledging that there could be logistical or other issues. type to give a second booster dose to people in some countries.
Although in many rich countries more than 70% of the population have been vaccinated, the poorest countries have immunized less than 16% of their inhabitants.
Last year, the WHO repeatedly criticized rich countries for offering booster doses and called for a halt to the practice, saying boosters were unnecessary for healthy people.
The agency reversed its advice late last year amid the spread of the highly infectious omicron variant after dozens of countries began offering booster doses.
Some health experts have warned that countries launching additional booster campaigns could deplete the global supply of COVID-19 vaccines before the most vulnerable people in developing countries receive a single dose.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended in March that Americans over the age of 50 be eligible for a second booster dose against COVID-19, while the European Medicines Agency only has authorized a second booster dose for those over 80 years of age.
Amid the continued spread of omicron and its subvariants, the WHO and others continue to call for accelerated vaccination campaigns.
“What we are seeing is that vaccinated people have a much lower risk of developing a serious illness and dying,” said the WHO director for the fight against COVID, Maria van Kerkhove, and warned against the false perception that the omicron is slight. “We have solutions for this because we have vaccines,” she said.
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