Fully vaccinated people don’t urgently need booster jabs against Covid-19, a key European agency said Wednesday, but an additional dose for people with depressed immune systems should be considered.
“Based on current evidence, there’s no urgent need for the administration of booster doses of vaccines to completely vaccinated individuals within the general population,” said the ecu Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
But, it added, it had been important to “distinguish between ‘booster’ doses for people that responded adequately to primary vaccination and extra doses for those with weakened immune systems who didn’t respond adequately”.
In the latter case, additional doses “should already be considered now”.
The report comes after the planet Health Organization criticised rich nations preparing to supply booster doses while poorer nations still struggle to urge supplies for a primary round of jabs.
Scientific data had not proved the necessity for a booster, the WHO said on August 18.
Wealthier countries were handing “extra life jackets to people that have already got life jackets, while we’re leaving people to drown”, said the agency’s emergencies director, Mike Ryan.
Some countries are making the case for booster jabs not just for fragile people but also for the broader population, amid signs of waning vaccine effectiveness against the highly transmissive Delta variant.
“All vaccines authorised within the EU/EEA (European Economic Area) are currently highly protective against COVID-19-related hospitalisation, severe disease and death, while about one out of three adults within the EU/EEA over 18 years remains currently not fully vaccinated,” said the ECDC.
