The World Health Organization on Monday issued a sharp rebuke to pharmaceutical companies over their call to governments to push a third dose of the COVID vaccine.
Following claims by Pfizer and Moderna that a third dose of their COVID vaccines could effective – and necessary – in combating outbreaks of various variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, including the rapidly-spreading Delta Variant, the WHO said that there is no evidence a third dose is either needed nor capable of reining in the new outbreaks.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that some variants, like the Delta or ‘Indian’ variant, have spread most quickly in populations with high vaccination rates.
"In places with high vaccination coverage, Delta is spreading quickly; especially infecting unprotected and vulnerable people and steadily putting pressure back on health systems."
At the same time, Ghebreyesus accused vaccine manufacturers of ignoring the needs of low-income countries which have yet to complete large-scale vaccination campaigns and instead prioritizing a third dose for industrialized nations.
“We’re making conscious choices right now not to protect those in most need.”
“Not everywhere is taking the same hit, though. We’re in the midst of a growing two-track pandemic where the haves and have-nots, within and between countries, are increasingly divergent.”
Other WHO officials said that there is no evidence that a third dose of the COVID vaccine is necessary six to twelve months after the second dose.
“It may well be that you need boosters after a year or two years. But at this point, at six months after the primary dose, there doesn’t seem to be any indication,” Soumya Swaminathan, the WHO’s top scientist, said.