US rebuffs WHO call for moratorium on COVID booster shots

The United States rejects an appeal from the UN health agency for a moratorium on COVID-19 vaccine booster shots and for rich countries to focus instead on supplying poorer nations.

“We definitely feel that it’s a false choice and we can do both,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki tells reporters, adding that the United States has sufficient supply to continue distributing shots abroad while also ensuring that every American can be fully vaccinated.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had urged the countries and companies controlling the supply of doses to change course immediately and prioritize addressing the drastic inequity in dose distribution between rich and poor nations.

Israel began administering COVID vaccine booster doses to the immunosuppressed last month and rolled them out to all Israelis over age 60 on Sunday.