While the UK and others give booster shots, poorer nations are struggling to protect even the most vulnerable
For the west and other rich nations, the problem is demand: how to give more vaccines, including by persuading the hesitant. Britain and other countries are already delivering booster shots. Older children in the UK will also be vaccinated soon. There are undoubted benefits, even given the very low risk of death to most recipients; Covid can still be very unpleasant and cause long-term damage to health.
But for the rest of the world, the problem is supply. Healthcare workers and highly vulnerable people go entirely unprotected as the pandemic rages, with thousands of deaths recorded globally each day. The director general of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, had urged a moratorium on boosters until at least the end of the year to allow each country to protect 40% of its population. In wealthier nations, 80% of the population have had at least one dose; in poorer ones, just 20%. Across Africa, the figure is less than 3.5%. It could take many lower-income countries another two years to reach most citizens. The disparity may by now be familiar. But it remains shocking.
