Warning of vaccine inequality, WHO again avoids endorsing boosters for general public

A World Health Organization advisory group has decided against endorsing a broad-based global rollout of coronavirus vaccine booster shots. The experts reiterated the wide disparity in access to vaccines between rich and poor countries and continued to recommend that first vaccine doses remain the priority.

The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) chair, Alejandro Cravioto, said in a media briefing Thursday that vaccines provide a robust level of protection and should remain the focus, amid unequal global distribution. However, the WHO has previously made exceptions and endorsed booster or third doses for those who are immunocompromised or have received an inactivated coronavirus vaccine. Johnson & Johnson, whose one-shot coronavirus vaccine is inactivated, announced Thursday that the WHO has recommended that people who were initially immunized with its product get a booster.