The World Health Organization called for a global halt to third doses of COVID-19 vaccines for the rest of the year. WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said that wealthy nations should instead make limited vaccine supplies available to poorer countries.
- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that “We have been calling for vaccine equity from the beginning, not after the richest countries have been taken care of. … I will not stay silent when the companies and countries that control the global supply of vaccines think the world’s poor should be satisfied with leftovers.”
- The Biden administration has repeatedly rejected the WHO’s calls to halt booster shots until medical workers and other at-risk groups can be vaccinated in poorer countries. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki spoke Wednesday.
- Press Secretary Jen Psaki said “Our view is that this is a false choice. And the United States has donated and shared about 140 million doses with over 90 countries, more than all other countries combined.”
- The Los Angeles school district will require students 12 and older to be vaccinated against the coronavirus if they attend in-person classes in the nation’s second-largest school district. The school board’s vote on Thursday makes Los Angeles by far the largest of a very small number of districts with a vaccine requirement.
- It sad, under the plan, students 12 and up who participate in sports and other extracurricular activities need to be fully vaccinated by the end of October. Others have until 19 December.
- Meanwhile, Pfizer has been accused of holding Brazil “to ransom” over demands to shield itself from possible vaccine side-effect lawsuits in its contract to supply the country with 100m Covid jabs.
In its $1bn (£700m) deal with Pfizer Export BV, signed in March, despite its prior complaints, the Brazilian government agreed that “a liability waiver be signed for any possible side-effects of the vaccine, exempting Pfizer from any civil liability for serious side-effects arising from the use of the vaccine, indefinitely”.
