Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

World

Germany, France will give COVID-19 vaccine boosters despite WHO call for pause – National

Germany, France will give COVID-19 vaccine boosters despite WHO call for pause – National

Germany and France will go ahead with COVID-19 vaccine boosters from September, disregarding an appeal by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to hold off until more people are vaccinated across the globe.

The decision to press ahead with booster shots despite the strongest statement yet from the WHO highlights the challenge of dealing with a global pandemic while countries try to protect their own citizens from the more infectious Delta variant.

French President Emmanuel Macron said France was working on rolling out third COVID-19 vaccine doses to the elderly and vulnerable from September.

Read more:
WHO calls for global pause on COVID-19 vaccine boosters

“A third dose will likely be necessary, not for everyone straightaway, but in any case for the most vulnerable and the most elderly,” Macron said on his Instagram account.

Story continues below advertisement

Germany intends to give boosters to immunocompromised patients, the very elderly and nursing home residents from September, the health ministry said.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on Wednesday for a halt to vaccine boosters until at least the end of September, saying it was unacceptable for rich countries to use more of the global vaccine supply.


Click to play video: 'White House says U.S. prepared to provide COVID-19 boosters if needed'







White House says U.S. prepared to provide COVID-19 boosters if needed


White House says U.S. prepared to provide COVID-19 boosters if needed

High-income countries administered around 50 doses for every 100 people in May, and that number has since doubled, according to WHO. Low-income countries have only been able to administer 1.5 doses for every 100 people, due to lack of supplies.

“I understand the concern of all governments to protect their people from the Delta variant. But we cannot accept countries that have already used most of the global supply of vaccines using even more of it,” Tedros said.

Story continues below advertisement

Germany rejected those accusations, saying it would also donate at least 30 million vaccine doses to poorer countries.

Read more:
Canada doesn’t need vaccine boosters yet, but planning for possibility: Tam

“We want to provide the vulnerable groups in Germany with a precautionary third vaccination and at the same time support the vaccination of as many people in the world as possible,” the ministry said.

Macron’s government is trying to step up France’s vaccination program as the country faces a fourth wave of the virus and street demonstrations in protest against the government’s COVID policies.


Click to play video: 'Israeli health official says COVID-19 booster shot helps with waning immunity'







Israeli health official says COVID-19 booster shot helps with waning immunity


Israeli health official says COVID-19 booster shot helps with waning immunity

France and Germany have so far given at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to 64.5 per cent and 62 per cent of their respective populations, with 49 per cent of the French and 53 per cent of Germans fully-vaccinated.

Story continues below advertisement

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Nicolas Delame, Alexander Ratz and Caroline Copley; Editing by Toby Chopra and Nick Macfie)

View link »





You May Also Like

World

France, which has opened its borders to Canadian tourists, is eager to see Canada reopen to the French. The Canadian border remains closed...

Health

Kashechewan First Nation in northern Ontario is experiencing a “deepening state of emergency” as a result of surging COVID-19 cases in the community...

World

The virus that causes COVID-19 could have started spreading in China as early as October 2019, two months before the first case was identified in the central city of Wuhan, a new study...

World

April Ross and Alix Klineman won the first Olympic gold medal for the United States in women’s beach volleyball since 2012 on Friday,...