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The World Health Organization called Wednesday for a temporary moratorium on the use of Covid-19 vaccine booster shots by wealthy countries, saying the global priority should be on increasing supplies of first doses to countries that are still struggling to protect health workers and older adults. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that countries should hold off on starting to give booster doses until at least the end of September — though it was quickly clear that the global health agency might extend the call if vaccine doses available to lower-income countries do not increase to adequate levels. (Branswell, 8/4)

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization, is now calling for a moratorium – for at least the next two months – on COVID booster shots. "We should not accept countries that have already used most of the global supply of vaccines, using even more of it," he says, "while the world's most vulnerable people remain unprotected." WHO is saying that people who are fully immunized against COVID should hold off on getting a third shot until more people around the world can get their first dose of a vaccine. (Beaubien, 8/4)

The WHO said the world is falling short of the organization’s target of giving 10% of the population of every country a vaccine shot by the end of September. While richer countries have administered almost 100 doses for every 100 people, low-income countries have administered just 1.5 doses per 100 people, the agency said. Most of the vaccines currently in use require two doses. “I understand the concern of all governments to protect their people from the Delta variant, but we cannot and should not accept countries that have already used most of the global supply of vaccines using even more of it while the world’s most vulnerable people remain unprotected,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference. (Fidler, 8/4)

French President Emanuel Macron said Thursday his country would join the handful of nations that plan to offer a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine to elderly and vulnerable people, despite the World Health Organization calling on Wednesday for a hold on booster shots until at least the end of September. WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus appealed for countries that were further along in their vaccination programs to wait until September to distribute third doses to allow for at least 10% of the population of every country to be vaccinated. (Ott, 8/5)