KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban celebrated Afghanistan’s Independence Day on Thursday by declaring it had beaten “the arrogant of power of the world” in the United States, but challenges to their rule ranging from running the country’s frozen…Read More
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LONDON, Aug. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — On August 18th, the Professional Wealth Management (PWM) magazine, a publication from the Financial Times, released the fifth edition of its annual report: “A Guide to Global Citizenship: The 2021 CBI Index.” The study evaluates all active citizenship by investment (CBI) programmes across the globe using nine pillars that are considered the highest priorities for investors seeking to apply to such programmes. These pillars are Freedom of Movement, Standard of Living, Minimum Investment Outlay, Mandatory Travel or Residence, Citizenship Timeline, Ease of Processing, Due Diligence, Family, and Certainty of Product.
2021 CBI Index – A Guide to Global Citizenship
In this year’s edition of the annual report, both the Commonwealth of Dominica and the Federation of St Kitts and Nevis shared the top ranking as the countries with the best CBI programme. For Dominica, 2021 marks the fifth consecutive year the island has been crowned as the best offering for second citizenship. However, this is the first time St Kitts and Nevis has also landed the top spot.
Both countries received perfect scores for their lack of mandatory travel or residence requirements for applicants, along with their simple processes, due diligence procedures, and family-friendly structures. In addition, Dominica scored perfectly in the Minimum Investment Outlay and Certainty of Product pillars whilst St Kitts and Nevis, for a second consecutive year, was the only country to receive top marks in the Citizenship Timeline pillar. This is due to the country’s Accelerated Application Process that bestows citizenship on successful applicants within 60 days. Although, in some cases, the AAP can take as little as 45 days.
The Caribbean, once again, took the top five spots in the 2021 report, with Grenada, St Lucia, and Antigua and Barbuda following Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis. With decades of experience within the industry shared between the five nations, the region’s CBI programmes evolved quickly to meet changing investor priorities during the COVID-19 pandemic. These changes include a limited-time reduction on investment thresholds, as shown in St Lucia and St Kitts and Nevis, and expanding family inclusiveness by allowing additional dependants to be included in applications.
Overall, the CBI industry has witnessed several changes over the last year, with new countries like Egypt entering the mix, while Cyprus abolished its long-standing programme. Demand for CBI programmes in 2021 saw increased interest as more investors outside of traditional markets began to pursue legitimate solutions to the restrictions caused by the pandemic.
Yuri Bender, PWM’s Editor in Chief, commented: “Both private banks and law firms report increased interest among clients seeking new citizenships and passports since the advent of the pandemic. Wealthy investors, say commentators, only began to appreciate mobility once it was abruptly withdrawn due to COVID.”
The industry adapted to meet the needs of this growing demographic: “Trends have included family inclusiveness, sustained emphasis on due diligence, and growing oversight of real estate projects available for investment under certain CBI programmes,” the report noted.
LES CAYES, Haiti, Aug 18 (Reuters) – Bodies lay in the courtyard of one morgue in the southern Haitian city of Les Cayes on Wednesday as funeral directors struggled to cope with the arrival of corpses following a devastating earthquake that killed nearly 2,000 people.
Morgues in the bustling port town said they had run out of space to store corpses as rescue workers toiled for a fifth day to pull dead bodies from the wreckage caused by Saturday’s 7.2 magnitude quake.
Jeantine Prosper, director of the ‘Shalom’ morgue, said he was having trouble finding places to store the bodies inside the building and to find fuel for the generator to keep them refrigerated inside.
In a patio at the rear of his small business, beneath a corrugated iron roof, several bodies lay beneath sheets, sheltered from the tropical sun. Inside, corpses lay head-to-toe on the tiled floor of the refrigerated room.
“This is a crisis,” Prosper said.
He said the morgue has received 41 bodies since Saturday, including six children, and he was keeping his operation open even though he and his family were left homeless by the quake.
“I could have died too,” he said. “We are all victims.”
A few streets away, another morgue named Sacrecoeur had received 90 bodies since Saturday.
It was the most corpses the facility had received in its 15-year operation, director Michel Vladimir Lamothe said. It exceeded even the aftermath of a cataclysmic 2010 earthquake, which struck closer to the capital Port-au-Prince, killing more than 200,000 people.
Marc Dor Lebrun, director of an upscale funeral home and morgue, Les Entreprises Marc Dor Lebrun, in Les Cayes agreed.
“In 2010, we received bodies from Port-au-Prince. Now, we’re completely full, for the first time in our history,” he said. “We can’t accept any more bodies.”
Reporting by Laura Gottesdiener Editing by Daniel Flynn and Rosalba O’Brien
HAVANA, Aug 18 (Reuters) – Cuba introduced tighter controls on the use of social media this week, including a ban on publications that might damage “the country’s prestige,” angering many citizens and international rights activists.
Decree 35, published in the official gazette on Tuesday, comes a month after the most widespread anti-government protests in the Communist-run country in decades, which spread in part due to information shared on social media.
The legislation bans the spread of false news or messages and content deemed offensive or which “incite mobilizations or other acts that upset public order.” It also provides a channel for Cubans to inform on potential contraventions.
Those who have attempted to “subvert the constitutional order” will be considered cyberterrorists. It does not say what the penalties will be for violations.
“Our Decree 35 goes against misinformation and cyber lies,” said President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who has blamed the July 11 protests on an online campaign by U.S.-backed counter-revolutionaries.
Cuba analysts compared the measure to the totalitarianism of George Orwell’s “1984”, saying that they feared the vague definitions of what constitutes a violation would allow for arbitrary implementation.
Since the introduction of mobile internet just over two years ago, platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp have enabled Cubans to share their gripes and even mobilize in a country where public spaces are tightly controlled.
“Cuba is formalizing digital repression,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty’s Americas director, noting the state already had monopoly over internet access, which was curtailed during and following the July 11 protests.
Nicaragua passed similar “cyber crime” legislation last year and has used it to muzzle opposition, she said.
Cuba’s new decree explicitly orders the state telecoms monopoly to suspend services to users who have committed contraventions, in coordination with relevant authorities.
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People carry a poster with photographs of Cuba’s late President Fidel Castro, Cuba’s President and First Secretary of the Communist Party Miguel Diaz-Canel and Cuba’s former President and First Secretary of the Communist Party Raul Castro during a rally in Havana, Cuba, July 17, 2021. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini
‘WE CAN’T EVEN TALK’
Cuban officials have long argued that dialogue is permitted but only “within the revolution,” to present a unified front against the United States, which has long openly sought to force political change in the country.
Last month, the U.S. government said it was working with the private sector and Congress to look for ways to make the internet more accessible to the people of Cuba.
Some Cuban Americans have used social media to encourage Cubans on the island to rise up against the government, with a few even urging then to commit acts of sabotage.
But many young Cubans say that should not be an excuse for them to be banned from expressing themselves and have taken to social media to criticize the new measure, enacted a month after protests that resounded with cries of “freedom.”
“Now we can’t even talk,” said one doctor, on condition of anonymity, who had participated in a video denouncing dire working conditions amid Cuba’s COVID-19 crisis.
The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday Cuba should “not punish those who speak the truth” while the British ambassador to Havana, Antony Stokes, wrote on Twitter that the recent crackdown on protesters and the censorship embodied by Decree 35 would “silence legitimate voices.”
Canada-based Cuban legal analyst Eloy Viera said Decree 35 outlined regulations rather than updated the penal code, so would not result in jailtime for those found transgressing.
But it was a more severe and explicitly political measure to regulate online expression than a previous, 2019 decree that bans the “spreading of information contrary to the common good, morals, decency, and integrity,” he said.
Government critics have faced fines under that decree, said Viera. But ultimately it had not been effective and neither, likely, would Decree 35, he said.
“They won’t be able to apply it to all the discontent of Cubans, who have found in social media a space that does not exist in the country’s public places,” said Viera.
Reporting by Sarah Marsh, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien
BBC- At least 2,189 people are known to have died in Haiti in Saturday’s powerful earthquake, authorities there said late on Wednesday.
Rescue workers have managed to pull 34 people alive from the rubble but many are still missing after the 7.2-magnitude quake.
The search for survivors has been hampered by heavy rains brought this week by Tropical Storm Grace.
Nearly 10,000 people have been injured and hospitals were left overwhelmed.
The UN says about 500,000 children now have limited or no access to shelter, safe water and food.
“Countless Haitian families who have lost everything due to the earthquake are now living literally with their feet in the water due to the flooding,” said Bruno Maes, the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) representative in the country.
Many have been staying in make-shift tents erected on a football field in the city of Les Cayes, one of the areas worst affected by the quake.
The football stadium in Les Cayes turned into a muddy field after the heavy rains
“Yesterday [Tuesday] evening, I took shelter near a church, but when I heard the ground shake again, I ran to return here,” city resident Magalie Cadet told AFP news agency.
She said so few structures remained standing in Les Cayes that people had to relieve themselves on the streets.
Haitians living in more remote areas said aid was yet to reach them.
“We have the will to do everything but we don’t have the money or resources,” a pastor told Reuters news agency.
The UN’s World Food Programme said it was working closely with the Haitian authorities to provide assistance to survivors.
And the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that following negotiations, armed gangs – who have previously attacked people travelling to Les Cayes from the capital – had promised to let an aid convoy through.
But the heavy rains brought by Tropical Storm Grace have made many of the roads in the more mountainous regions impassable.
The south-west of Haiti appears to have suffered the worst of the damage from the quake, especially around Les Cayes.
In Les Cayes, some people broke open existing tombs to bury victims of the quake
Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who is in power until a fresh presidential election can be held, has declared a month-long state of emergency and urged the population to “show solidarity”.
Haiti has been hit by a series of natural disasters in the past, including Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
The deadliest was the 2010 earthquake which killed more than 200,000 people and caused extensive damage to the country’s infrastructure and economy.
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Aftershocks Rattle Quake City
LES CAYES, Aug 18 (Reuters) – Tremors shook buildings late on Wednesday in the southern Haitian city of Les Cayes, a Reuters witness said, a few days after a devastating earthquake killed almost 2,200 people across the Caribbean nation and injured thousands more.
A police officer on patrol in Les Cayes said there were no immediate reports of further deaths or damage in the region, which is still reeling from the 7.2 magnitude earthquake on Saturday morning. read more
Across the seaside city, families were sleeping on mattresses in the streets.
Haitian authorities said late on Wednesday that the official death toll from the quake had risen to 2,189.
The poorest country in the Americas, Haiti is still recovering from a 2010 quake that killed over 200,000.
Reporting by Ricardo Arduengo and Laura Gottesdiener in Les Cayes Editing by Shri Navaratnam
NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (August 18, 2021) — Dr. Judy Nisbett, Chair of the Nevis COVID-19 Task Force; and Mr. Brian Dyer, Co-Chair, were two of the awardees who were presented with the 2020 Medal of Honour for their outstanding contribution to National Service during a Crisis by Sir Tapley Seaton, Governor General of St. Kitts and Nevis.
The third awardee Dr. A. Linton Liburd, who was not present at the Investiture Ceremony at Government House in St. Kitts on August 17, 2021, is awarded for his contribution to Medicine.
According to his profile, Mr. Brian Dyer is employed as the Director of the Nevis Disaster Management Department (NDMD). His responsibilities incorporate the principles of comprehensive disaster management: formulating policies, programmes, risk management, and community involvement.
He is a graduate of the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and holds a Bachelor of Science in Aviation Business Administration and a Master of Science in Aeronautics with specialisation in Management and Safety Science. He served as an air traffic control specialist at both the Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport and the Vance W. Amory International Airport.
However, though his career path has taken him to disaster management, Mr. Dyer is still an avid aviation enthusiast and continues to work with the federal aviation authorities. He is currently the St. Kitts and Nevis representative on the Board of Directors of the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority for the advancement of Civil Aviation in the region.
He has been an affiliate member of the American Association of Airport Executives. He is also a member of the International Society of Safety Engineers; a student member of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators; a Recipient of the ISASI Rudy Kapustin Scholarship Award. In 2009 his thesis entitled “Mental Aspects of Aircraft Accident Investigation: Protecting the Investigator” was presented at the 41st Annual Seminar of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators in Japan.
Dr. Judy Nisbett, a product of the Combermere Primary School, the Charlestown Girls School and the Charlestown Secondary School (CSS).
She received her tertiary education from the Cave Hill and Mona campuses of the University of the West Indies (UWI), and holds a Master of Science Degree in Public Health with a concentration in Infectious Diseases.
Dr. Nisbett’s career path began as a teacher at the Combermere Primary School and on completion of her first degree, she taught Chemistry at CSS and the Nevis Sixth Form College.
However, her lifelong dream of becoming a physician became a reality when she returned to Nevis on completion of her studies. She was employed at the Alexandra Hospital as an emergency room physician and was later assigned to the Department of Public Health as a District Medical Officer and afterwards was promoted to Medical Officer of Health.
Over the years Dr. Nisbett has been exposed to a wide range of training opportunities which have equipped her to be an invaluable member of our health care team in Nevis.
She attributes her love for public health to her mother’s influence as a Public Health Nurse therefore when the world was plunged into the COVID-19 pandemic she sprang into action mobilising the Ministry of Health on Nevis to formulate its response.
Dr. Nisbett clearly recalls the request from the Hon. Premier to chair the COVID-19 Task Force, and to form and lead the response on Nevis. This role she accepted without hesitation and has had no regrets.
She is an integral member of the of the National COVID-19 Task Force and the National Health Emergency Operations Centre and says she is proud to be a part of a strong team which is skilfully and successfully managing the response.
The senior medical officer considers it an hour to lead Nevis’ Health Emergency Operations Centre and lauds the formidable contribution and combined efforts of the group.
She thanks God constantly for enabling her to be able to serve and to live out her country’s motto “Country Above Self.”
Meantime, Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, had special words of commendation for Mr. Dyer and Dr. Nisbett.
“I want again to give them a special hand. Not only have they made a name for themselves in terms of their contribution in the fight against COVID but wherever there is a disaster or an eminent one, these personalities and others will always be there to take us through.
“So we owe you both and we owe all who work with you and support you a great deal and debt of gratitude,” he said.
The third Nevisian, Dr. A. Linton Liburd, will be invested with a Medal of Honour at a ceremony to be hosted by Her Honour Hyleeta Liburd, Deputy Governor General on Nevis, for his contribution in the field of Medicine.
Also present at the ceremony were Her Honour Hyleeta Liburd, Deputy Governor General on Nevis; Hon. Michael Perkins, Speaker of the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly, and other members of the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis.
Fully vaccinated adults can harbour virus levels as high as unvaccinated people if infected with the Delta variant, according to a sweeping analysis of UK data, which supports the idea that hitting the threshold for herd immunity is unlikely.
There is abundant evidence that Covid vaccines in the UK continue to offer significant protection against hospitalisations and death. But this new analysis shows that although being fully vaccinated means the risk of getting infected is lower, once infected by Delta a person can carry similar virus levels as unvaccinated people.
The implications of this on transmission remain unclear, the researchers have cautioned. “We don’t yet know how much transmission can happen from people who get Covid-19 after being vaccinated – for example, they may have high levels of virus for shorter periods of time,” said Sarah Walker, a professor of medical statistics and epidemiology at the University of Oxford.
“But the fact that they can have high levels of virus suggests that people who aren’t yet vaccinated may not be as protected from the Delta variant as we hoped.”
Positive tests, hospitalisations and deaths linked to Covid have been rising slowly in the UK recently. In the week to 18 August, 211,238 people had a confirmed positive test result, an increase of 7.6% compared with the previous seven days. Over the same period, there have been 655 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, a rise of 7.9% versus the previous seven days. Hospitalisations have also risen slightly, with 5,623 going into hospital with coronavirus between 8 August 2021 and 14 August 2021, a rise of 4.3% compared with the previous seven days.
The study, which is yet to be peer-reviewed, found vaccine performance has waned against Delta versus the previously dominant Alpha variant.
The analysis did not directly investigate whether the lower level of vaccine protection against Delta affected jabs’ ability to prevent severe disease. However, Dr Penny Ward, a visiting professor in pharmaceutical medicine at King’s College London, noted: “The low incidence of hospitalisation seen to date suggests that in this respect at least the vaccines are protecting individuals from developing severe Covid.”
The study – conducted by Oxford researchers in partnership with the Office for National Statistics and the Department of Health and Social Care – compared the results of about 2.6m nose and throat swabs taken from more than 384,500 adults between December 2020 and mid-May 2021, and more than 811,600 test results from 358,983 adults between mid-May and 1 August 2021 (the period of Delta’s domination).
The UK findings on peak virus levels after Delta infections in vaccinated people echoed data from a small study cited by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last month. The agency indicated those findings had underpinned its decision to recommend that people wear masks in some indoor settings, regardless of their vaccination status, especially in areas of “substantial or high” virus transmission.
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, August 18, 2021 (S.T.E.P.) — The Skills Training Empowerment Programme (STEP) has an obligation to ensure the country is at its best at all times in terms of cleanliness, and has been fulfilling this mandate by using interns who are attached to community enhancement groups that are spread out around the country.
“Recently, the STEP has had reasons to zone all the community enhancement groups to maximise productivity,” said STEP Field Operations Manager, Mr William Phillip. “What used to happen in the past is that in every community/village there was a community enhancement group of STEP interns.”
It was however found out that persons on the community groups would be from the community itself and were not willing to move out of their community to work elsewhere. This disadvantaged the STEP, as when persons completed their task in the village, they would have nothing else to do and would just hang around for the rest of the day.
“What we have done recently to maximise productivity and to get more from the workers, we have sought to zone all different communities,” explained Mr Phillip. “At present we have four zones in St. Kitts. We started with Zone Two, which stretches from Boyd’s, Challengers, Old Road, Sandy Point, goes down to Newton Ground and into St. Paul’s.”
Before the zoning, the area had six community enhancement groups, one each in Boyd’s, Challengers, Newton Ground, and St. Paul’s while Sandy Point had two community enhancement groups. But following the zoning, Zone Two now has three community enhancement groups.
The groups in Newton Ground and St. Paul’s were combined to make one group, the two groups in Sandy Point were combined to make another group, while the groups in Challengers and Old Road were combined into one group. The zone is headed by a Zonal Field Officer, while each group has a Supervisor, and an Assistant Supervisor.
“We have seen an increase in productivity,” pointed out Mr Phillip. “For instance if there is an activity to be done in Sandy Point, close by Newton Ground, we can move one of the groups of that zone which will give us more manpower to complete both Sandy Point and Newton Ground and St. Paul’s in a shorter period of time.”
STEP Field Operations Manager, Mr William Phillip (left) with STEP Zonal Field Officer, Mrs Dawn Hodge-Percival, Ms Janice Richardson, Ms Gillian Dasent, Ms Leesha Huggins, and Mr Theophelos Browne.
From left: Assistant Supervisor Ms Jewel Pelle, STEP Field Operations Manager Mr William Phillip, Supervisor Mr Thriscan Hendrickson, and STEP Senior Field Officer Mr Damian Weekes.
Members of STEP Community Enhancement Groups from Sandy Point and Newton Ground/St. Paul’s working on the Sandy Point Methodist Churchyard.
Members of STEP Community Enhancement Group made up teams from Challengers and Old Road working on the Bronte Welsh Primary Schoolyard.
Recently Mr Phillip paid a visit to Zone Two, starting at Sandy Point, where he found the two groups (combined St. Paul’s and Newton Ground groups and combined Sandy Point groups) working on the Sandy Point Methodist churchyard, where he met the Zonal Field Officer Mrs Dawn Hodge-Percival with the two groups. He later visited the Bronte Welsh Primary School in Boyd’s where the combined Boyd’s and Challengers group was working in the schoolyard.
“So that is one of the advantages that we have gotten by with the combination of those groups into zones – more productivity,” he pointed out. “We know we are in a better position to utilise our equipment, weed eaters and such like, and better planning for our field officers who in the past had to visit six groups in one day.”
At the Sandy Point Methodist churchyard, were supervisors Ms Janice Richardson for the Sandy Point Community Enhancement Group, and Mr Theophelos Browne for the St. Paul’s/Newton Ground Community Enhancement Group. Their respective Assistant Supervisors were Ms Leesha Huggins, and Ms Gillian Dasent.
“After the zoning was done we ended up with three groups in Zone Two and it has been a good combination working together in different areas,” said STEP Zonal Field Officer Mrs Dawn Hodge-Percival. “We do more in less time as we have more persons working, and we are grateful for that.”
Giving an example of what was taking place at the Methodist churchyard in Sandy Point, Mrs Hodge-Percival noted that what would have taken splinter groups two or even three days was finished in just one day. Previously it would have been hard to bring the four splinter groups together which as a result made supervision a difficult task.
At the Bronte Welsh Primary School, the third group in Zone Two covering Challengers and Old Road was led by its supervisor, Mr Thriscan Hendrickson, and Assistant Supervisor, Ms Jewell Pelle. Also present was STEP Senior Field Officer Mr Damian Weekes.
Mr Hendrickson observed that the combined group achieves more at any given task, which has in return brought satisfaction both to the STEP interns and community members they are serving.
The other STEP zones on the island of St. Kitts are: Zone One which covers the areas from West Farm to Bird Rock, including St. Peter’s, Keys and Conaree; Zone Three which covers the area from Dieppe Bay to Mansion including Parsons Ground, Saddlers, and Tabernacle; and Zone Four which covers the area from Phillips to Cayon, including Molineux, Christ Church and Ottley’s.
Global health advocates are pushing back on the Biden administration’s anticipated plans to start offering Americans a booster dose of coronavirus vaccine, arguing it will only deepen global inequalities.
Advocates argue that the evidence on boosters is not strong enough to justify wide-scale use and the U.S. needs to focus its attention on sending more doses abroad in order to stop the pandemic from worsening.
“Low-income countries still don’t have enough vaccines to give a single dose to even their most vulnerable people,” said Jenny Ottenhoff, senior policy director of global health and education at the ONE Campaign.
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“This is just one more step that our government is taking that will widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots. And this is not just some moral stain on wealthy nations; it’s really prolonging the pandemic for the entire world,” she added.
Biden officials are set to formally announce as early as Wednesday a plan to provide booster doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to ensure lasting protection for Americans amid the highly contagious delta variant.
The move would represent a rapid shift in policy for the administration, which for months has been trying to tamp down a push for booster doses.
Just more than 50 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, and while the pace of vaccinations has been increasing in recent weeks, millions are not vaccinated and have no interest in rolling up their sleeves.
Officials have tried to walk a fine line: They want to make sure the U.S. is prepared for any future COVID-19 complications while also prioritizing reaching the remaining unvaccinated.
The White House has also promised to be a world leader in donating the vaccine abroad, including purchasing and donating 500 million doses of the one manufactured by Pfizer and BioNtech.
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Federal officials have said 200 million of those doses will be delivered by the end of this year and the remaining 300 million will be delivered in the first half of 2022.
On Tuesday, the White House announced the first recipients: About 188,000 doses of the 500 million would be sent to Rwanda, along with an additional 300,000 doses from the existing U.S. supply.
President Biden and administration officials have also touted the fact that the U.S. has donated far more doses than other wealthy nations combined.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday said it was a “false choice” that the U.S. would be unable to provide boosters domestically while also donating doses abroad.
“The U.S. is far and away the biggest contributor to the global supply. We will continue to be the arsenal for vaccines around the world. We also have enough supply and have long planned for enough supply should a booster be needed for the eligible population,” Psaki said.
Ottenhoff said she thinks Psaki is right and that the U.S. has the doses to spare.
“I think more than most countries, the United States is in a good position to do this,” Ottenhoff said.
“What the world really needs right now is leadership. That’s what’s been sorely missing since day one of this pandemic,” Ottenhoff continued. “Most countries have been looking inward and haven’t been really cooperating across global borders … and I think the Biden administration is really well positioned to play that role right now.”
Still, the number of doses shared by the U.S. falls far short of the billions of doses needed to vaccinate the rest of the world.
“Whether boosters are administered or not, more doses urgently need to be redistributed and allocated to health care workers and high-risk populations in low- and middle-income countries in order to vaccinate the world and end this pandemic,” Carrie Teicher, program director at Doctors Without Borders USA, said in an emailed statement.
The group has called on the U.S. to not only donate more doses in the short term but also put pressure on drug companies to share vaccine technology globally and scale up production in low- and middle-income countries.
The U.S. would not be the first country to move ahead with booster shots. Israel launched its first-in-the-world booster campaign two weeks ago, targeting Israelis over the age of 50 who received their second Pfizer dose more than five months ago. France and Germany have both approved booster doses for vulnerable populations beginning this fall.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for a halt to booster shots in wealthy nations, at least through September, as poor countries struggle with access to vaccines.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus earlier this month said richer countries have administered about 100 doses of coronavirus vaccines for every 100 people on average, while low-income countries — hampered by short supplies — have provided only about 1.5 doses per 100 people.
“We cannot, and we should not, accept countries that have already used most of the global supply of vaccines using even more of it, while the world’s most vulnerable people remain unprotected,” Tedros said.
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