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WHO experts criticize ‘repeated booster’ strategy — Analysis

The World Well being Group’s vaccine advisory physique has voiced issues about utilizing present Covid-19 vaccines as boosters

Utilizing the unique vaccines towards Covid-19 as boosters towards rising variants is the unsuitable method, stated a WHO professional group, including that the world wants new vaccines that shield towards an infection and transmission.

“A vaccination technique based mostly on repeated booster doses of the unique vaccine composition is unlikely to be applicable or sustainable,” the Technical Advisory Group on Covid-19 Vaccine Composition (TAG-Co-VAC) stated on Tuesday.

Whereas some nations might advocate boosters, “the fast precedence for the world is accelerating entry to the first vaccination, significantly for teams at better threat of creating extreme illness,” the group added, declaring the “want for fairness in entry to vaccines throughout nations to realize world public well being targets.”

Whereas the at the moment out there vaccines deal with “lowering extreme illness and dying, in addition to defending well being methods,” there’s a want for vaccines “which have excessive impression on prevention of an infection and transmission.” Till such jabs are developed, the present vaccines might must be up to date to higher goal rising virus variants corresponding to Omicron, the group stated.

Builders ought to work to create vaccines that “elicit immune responses which might be broad, robust, and long-lasting as a way to scale back the necessity for successive booster doses,” the TAG-Co-VAC urged.

WHO warns we’re not ready to treat Covid like flu

On Tuesday, the EU drug regulator EMA’s head of Organic Well being Threats and Vaccines Technique stated they don’t but have sufficient knowledge to advocate a second booster – the fourth jab up to now – at the same time as some nations urged such a transfer.

Marco Cavaleri stated they have been “fairly involved a few technique that entangles repeat vaccination inside a brief time period,” including that “we can not actually constantly give a booster dose each three-four months.”

The WHO stated that Omicron might infect greater than half of the EU inhabitants over the following two months and urged the bloc’s authorities to not deal with the virus as endemic.

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