Poor countries don’t have vaccines, but the United States says …

　　BEIJING, Aug. 5 (Xinhua)-With the widening gap in vaccination rates between rich and poor countries, the World Health Organization has issued the strongest appeal so far, asking rich countries to temporarily postpone booster vaccination. On August 4th, local time, WHO Director-General Tan Desai said that rich countries should wait until at least the end of September before distributing COVID-19 vaccine booster. The move is to ensure that at least 10% of the population in every country can be vaccinated.

　　Tan Desai said: "I understand the concerns of governments about protecting their people from Delta virus attacks. But we can’t accept that countries that have exhausted most of the global vaccine supply use more vaccines. "

　　He said: "We appeal to all influential people — — Olympic athletes, investors, business leaders, religious leaders, and everyone in the family and society support our call to suspend additional vaccination at least before the end of September. "

　　Tan Desai said: "We need to urgently reverse the situation, from the situation that most vaccines flow to high-income countries to providing most vaccines to low-income countries."

　　However, WHO experts believe that it may be necessary to further delay the application of booster shots for a sufficient number of people worldwide to be vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccine before the end of 2021.

　　According to WHO, booster shots should be given only after every country in the world ensures that 10% of the population is protected by vaccines. Kate O ‘Brien, Director of Immunization, Vaccine and Biology of WHO, pointed out: "We need to focus on those who are most vulnerable and most likely to suffer from serious diseases and death, and let them get the first and second shots."

　　According to WHO, in May, every 100 people in high-income countries were vaccinated with about 50 doses of vaccine, and this number has doubled since then. Due to the lack of supply, low-income countries only received about 1.5 doses of vaccine per 100 people.

　　In the face of WHO’s appeal, White House press secretary Psaki responded on the 4th that it would be a "wrong choice" to suspend vaccination. The United States can continue to provide fortifiers for its citizens while supplying vaccines to the whole world.

　　In July, the United States signed an agreement with Pfizer and BioNTech to order an additional 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to expand the vaccination rate of children and prepare for vaccination with booster later this year.

　　Fauci, the chief infectious disease expert in the United States, said on August 3 that health experts are still considering the necessity of providing fortifiers for people with weak immunity.

　　At present, some countries have begun to inoculate or study the necessity of fortifier. On the 2nd local time in Germany, it was said that it would start to provide fortifiers for vulnerable people in September. The United Arab Emirates has also started the process of providing fortifiers to high-risk groups such as the elderly. Last week, the Israeli government announced that it would start the third dose of vaccine for people over 60 in August.