Critics say rollout of booster shots in US is not fair to countries lacking vaccines

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We really need to make sure that while having conversations about the booster, we continue to have conversations about the vaccine, said Dr Shamard Charles

Following the White House announcement that COVID-19 booster injections will be rolled out starting August 20, critics are questioning whether it is both morally and practically right to do so.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said people in need around the world should be vaccinated before the United States implements a plan to distribute third vaccines.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, according to Reuters, that while he supports immunocompromised people receiving a booster, under-vaccinated countries should be given priority before the boosters are rolled out to all.

Earlier this month, the WHO called for a moratorium on recalls until the end of September.

I understand the concern of all governments to protect their people from the Delta variant. But we cannot accept that countries that have already used up most of the global vaccine supply are using even more, Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a previous interview.

Tedros Adhanom, director general of the World Health Organization, attends a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People January 28, 2020 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Naohiko Hatta Pool / Getty Images)

Plan to distribute additional lifejackets to people who already have them, while leaving others to drown without a single lifejacket, said Dr Michael Ryan, WHO’s emergency chief.

Statistics from Our World Data show that only 24.5% of people worldwide are fully vaccinated, with just 1.4% of people in low-income countries having received an injection. Countries like Haiti, Congo and Chad even have less than 0.2% of the population vaccinated, according to the New York Times’ COVID global vaccination tracker.

There are also concerns that promoting the recalls, as some black communities in the United States struggle to increase vaccination rates, may not solve the problem.

We never want to run after the vaccine. We want to move forward and the recall allows us to do so, said Dr. Shamard Charles, assistant professor of public health and health promotion at St. Francis College, in an interview with theGrio.

The story continues

But in black and brown communities, we struggle to get 50% of our population vaccinated. And so a booster doesn’t necessarily answer questions about misinformation. He doesn’t answer questions about conspiracy theories. We really need to make sure that while having conversations about the booster, we continue to have conversations about the vaccine, Charles said.

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy defended the move to promote boosters during an appearance on ABC This Week on Sunday.

We need to protect the lives of Americans and we need to help immunize the world because that’s the only way to end this pandemic, Murthy said.

Booster shots increase antibody levels in people who receive them, which is especially important for people who are immunocompromised.

When you think of antibodies, you have to think of them like little soldiers in an army, Charles au Grio said. So our bodies are constantly fighting foreign invaders, including COVID. Some of these little antibodies. They die, okay? They don’t stay forever. We want to keep these antibody levels high. We want to make sure that we have a lot of soldiers in the fight. And so in order for us to do that, sometimes we need to receive what we call a reminder.

Booster shots are nothing new and, in fact, many people are getting boosters for other illnesses such as hepatitis, measles and Tdap.

At this time, boosters are only available for the Pfzier and Modernas COVID-19 vaccinations, while data on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is still being collected.

I was not saying that if you have two doses of the vaccine, you are not well protected. In fact, you are really well protected. But what we want to do is be a little more forward thinking, said Dr Charles.

Being forward thinking is essential at a time when the Delta variant, a highly contagious mutation of COVID-19, has become the most important strain in the United States

Also learning that if you give a third boost, your antibody titers will increase, perhaps up to tenfold, White House vaccination coordinator Dr Bechara Choucair said in an interview with the Grio. We know that the higher your antibody titers, the more likely you are to be able to be protected against infections, including the Delta variant.

Natasha S. Alford is Vice President of Digital Content and Senior Correspondent at theGrio. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @natashasalford.

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