WHO chief: Blanket booster drives risk prolonging pandemic

BERLIN (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization is warning that blanket booster programs in rich countries risk prolonging the world’s battle with COVID-19. He says that “no country can boost its way out of the pandemic.” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the priority must be to reduce deaths and help all countries meet minimum vaccination targets that many still haven’t reached. And he noted that “the vast majority of hospitalizations and deaths are in unvaccinated people, not unboosted people.” Tedros said Wednesday that the unequal sharing of vaccines “has cost many lives.”