The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for the postponing the booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in order to prioritize countries where only one or two percent of the population has been vaccinated. Ghebreyesus made his statement on Monday and stressed the fact that stronger strains of the Delta mutant could appear if vaccination rates did not rise globally. He said that the vaccines intended to be booster doses should be donated to countries where people have not yet received their first or second doses in order to get closer to reaching global herd immunity. While the mutated Delta strain of the coronavirus continues to spread widely, forcing countries and governments to impose additional booster doses, a British study uncovered new information about vaccines. The study, conducted by Oxford University and based on more than three million examinations across Britain, revealed that the protection provided by the two most widely used vaccines to prevent Delta weakens within three months. The study also found that those who were infected after receiving two doses of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine might pose a greater risk to others than was the case with previous virus strains. The study, also found that 90 days after the second dose of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines, the efficiency of the first in preventing infection decreased by 75% and the efficiency of the second by 61%. The results of the Oxford study are consistent with another study conducted by the American Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The study was made while the US government was planning to make a third booster dose of vaccines widely available next month, due to the increasing infections in the United States with the Delta strain.
