WASHINGTON — The ONE Campaign issued the below statement today after the Food and Drug Administration authorized the expansion of booster shots for Moderna and Johnson & Johnson recipients. This comes amidst an ongoing vaccine access crisis in low-income countries, where some immunocompromised individuals and first responders have yet to receive a single COVID-19 dose. 

Tom Hart, Acting CEO at ONE:

“The reality is, the more wealthy countries use booster shots, the further we will be from ending the pandemic. While some argue that we can both administer boosters and vaccinate the world, the simple fact is that boosters divert supply from an urgent area of need —  administering first shots around the world. Wealthy countries are already woefully off track in delivering the vaccines they have promised to share to date, and it will take significant ambition, funding, and speed to reach the goal of vaccinating 70 percent of the world by September 2022.”

“As we have seen with the delta variant, the longer we wait to vaccinate the world, the higher the threat for us at home. This isn’t just a global health issue, it’s a national security and economic crisis.”

Background:

• Nearly 74% of vaccines administered globally have been in high- and upper-middle income countries, compared to just 0.4% in low-income countries. 
• 84% of the COVID-19 vaccine doses that G7 countries have committed to lower and lower-middle income countries have yet to be delivered (as of October 18, 2021).