Factbox-Countries weigh need for booster COVID-19 shots By Reuters

By Reuters Staff

(Reuters) – Many countries are preparing to make COVID-19 vaccine booster shots available, but there is no consensus among scientists that they are necessary and the World Health Organization wants the most vulnerable people worldwide to be fully vaccinated first.

Here are some of the options countries and regions are considering:

NORTH AMERICA

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sept. 24 backed a booster shot of the Pfizer (NYSE:) and BioNTech vaccine for Americans aged 65 and older, some adults with underlying medical conditions and some adults in high-risk working and institutional settings.

Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization is recommending https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/immunization/national-advisory-committee-on-immunization-naci/summary-september-10-2021-additional-dose-covid-19-vaccine-immunocompromised-following-1-2-dose-series.html booster shots of an authorized mRNA vaccine to those who are moderately or severely immunocompromised.

EUROPE

The European Union’s drug regulator recommended on Oct. 4 a third dose of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna (NASDAQ:) mRNA vaccines for those with a severely weakened immune system, but left it to member states to decide if the wider population should get a booster.

Several EU member states launched their own booster campaigns before the long-awaited EMA guidance.

Recent contracts with Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna have included the potential for the bloc to buy booster shots.

These European countries are offering boosters to people after they received a full dose of a vaccine:

** Austria (wider rollout to start on Oct. 17); Czech Republic; Hungary; Russia; Romania (only boosters from Pfizer or Moderna were approved); Serbia; Slovakia

These countries are offering boosters to people with weak immune systems, the elderly or vulnerable:

** Belgium (mRNA); Bulgaria (recommended for front-line medics, immunosuppressed people, living in care homes and over 65); Britain (mRNA); Denmark; Finland (may expand to other Finns later in the autumn); France; Germany (mRNA); Ireland; Italy; Lithuania; Netherlands; Norway (mRNA); Poland; Portugal; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden (larger population to get a jab in 2022)

Switzerland will not use boosters for now – authorities say they do not see protection slipping over time, but that they are still monitoring the data.

AFRICA

** Morocco, which administered the most doses in Africa, will soon start giving a third dose, the Health Ministry said on Oct. 1

** Tunisia (for people over 75)

ASIA, MIDDLE EAST

These countries are offering boosters to people after they received a full dose:

** Bahrain (Sputnik V, all over-18s at least six months after second dose); Cambodia (AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:)); Indonesia (health workers only, wider…