Blanket COVID-19 vaccine booster programmes could prolong the pandemic and increase inequity, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday. Currently, around 20 per cent of all vaccine doses administered are being given as boosters or additional doses. As many health workers across the world are unable to access these items, WHO is urging manufacturers and countries to scale up production, procurement and distribution of both respirators and medical masks. Tedros stressed that all health workers must have all the tools they need to do their jobs, which includes training, PPE, a safe work environment, and vaccines. “It’s frankly difficult to understand how a year since the first vaccines were administered, three in four health workers in Africa remain unvaccinated,” he remarked.

Source: Libya Today December 23, 2021 18:43 UTC