COPENHAGEN (REUTERS, AFP) - A third-dose booster shot of the Covid-19 vaccination is a way to keep the most vulnerable safe and "not a luxury", the World Health Organization said on Monday (Aug 30).
The WHO said earlier this month data did not indicate a need for booster shots, while topping up already fully vaccinated people would further increase vaccine inequity between rich and lower-income countries.
"A third dose of vaccine is not a luxury booster (that is) taken away from someone who is still waiting for a first jab.
It's basically a way to keep the most vulnerable safe," Mr Hans Kluge, head of WHO Europe, told a press briefing.
"We have to be a little bit careful with the booster shot, because there is not yet enough evidence," he said. "But more and more studies show that a third dose keeps vulnerable people safe, and this is done by more and more countries in our region," he said.
Mr Kluge urged European countries with excess vaccines to share them with other countries, particularly those in Eastern Europe and Africa.
Mr Kluge also said an increase in Covid-19 transmission rates across Europe over the last two weeks, combined with low levels of vaccination in some countries, was "deeply worrying".
"Last week, there was an 11 per cent increase in the number of deaths in the region - one reliable projection is expecting 236,000 deaths in Europe, by Dec 1," Mr Kluge told reporters, adding that "the stagnation in vaccine uptake in our region is of serious concern."
Europe has registered around 1.3 million Covid deaths to date. Of the WHO Europe's 53 member states, 33 have registered an incidence rate greater than 10 per cent in the past two weeks, Mr Kluge said.
High virus transmission rates across the continent were "deeply worrying, particularly in the light of low vaccination uptake in priority populations in a number of countries."
Mr Kluge attributed the higher transmission to the spread of the more transmissible Delta variant, an "exaggerated easing" of restrictions and measures, and a surge in summer travel.
While around half of people in Europe are fully vaccinated, vaccination uptake in the region has slowed, Mr Kluge noted. "In the past six weeks, it has fallen by 14 per cent, influenced by a lack of access to vaccines in some countries and a lack of vaccine acceptance in others."
Only six per cent of people in lower and lower-middle income countries in Europe are fully vaccinated, and some countries have only managed to vaccinate one in 10 health professionals.
"The stagnation in vaccine uptake in our region is of serious concern," Mr Kluge said, urging countries to "increase production, share doses, and improve access."
