To boost or not to boost, that is the question

Bulletin 129 | Louis Rossouw

In this bulletin Louis Rossouw investigates the question of booster shots.

High-income countries are progressing rapidly with vaccination and are starting to consider the use of booster shots where many low-income countries are struggling to vaccinate significant numbers of people. Given excess availability of vaccines in many high-income countries, this article aims to answer the question about whether to use these vaccines to act as booster shots.

It concludes that excess vaccines may save potentially 11 times the number of lives in a low-income country that has not administered any 1st doses as yet compared to being used as a booster in a high-income country. Furthermore, ensuring sufficient vaccination world-wide may reduce the risk of further variants emerging.