Amid the increasing number of omicron cases across the globe, the World Health Organisation (WHO), warned that boosters cannot be seen as a ticket to go ahead with planned celebrations. World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted that no country can boost its way out of the covid-19 pandemic.
“No country can boost its way out of the COVID-19 pandemic. And boosters cannot be seen as a ticket to go ahead with planned celebrations, without the need for other precautions,” Tedros tweeted.
“It’s important to remember that the vast majority of hospitalisations and deaths are in unvaccinated people, not un-boosted people,” he further added.
The WHO chief’s comments come at a time when the Omicron variant of Covid-19 has been spreading at lightning speed across the globe since it was first detected in South Africa in November. According to the information available in the open domain, the Omicron variant is more transmissible than the previous streams of the deadly virus.
Besides, the scientific community is also worried that the Omicron variant could be effective at dodging the globally developed vaccines so far. Many governments, as well as health agencies, have thus been advocating booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines to build immunity against Omicron.
Blanket booster programmes are likely to prolong the COVID-19 pandemic: Tedros
Tedros, however, said that the existing vaccines will continue to provide protection against Omicron. The WHO chief also stressed that it was important to take all the necessary precautions to halt the spread of Omicron in light of the festive season such as Christmas and New year.
According to reports omicron has been reported in more than 56 countries across the globe so far. Many countries such as the UK, Australia, Japan, Singapore and others have Titan restrictions ahead of the festive season to curb the spread of Omicron.
“Blanket booster programmes are likely to prolong the COVID-19 pandemic, rather than ending it, by diverting supply to countries that already have high levels of vaccination coverage, giving the virus more opportunity to spread and mutate,” he told reporters.
