France and Germany intend to go ahead with COVID-19 vaccine booster doses from September, ignoring an appeal by the World Health Organization (WHO) to halt the boosters until more people get vaccinated worldwide.

President of France, Emmanuel Macron, said that the country was going to roll out the COVID-19 vaccine booster doses for the elderly and vulnerable from the month of September. He stated that a third dose will be required not for everyone right away, but for the most vulnerable and the most elderly. Meanwhile, Germany plans to give booster doses to immunocompromised individuals, the very elderly as well as nursing home residents starting September, stated the health ministry.

WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had, on Wednesday, urged countries to pause vaccine boosters until at least the end of September, and had stated that it was unacceptable for affluent nations to use more of the global vaccine supply… (NDTV – Reuters, August 5, 2021)