WHO Did Not Call On Countries to Stop Giving COVID-19 Booster Shot
The Claim
The World Health Organization calls on countries to stop giving the third dose of COVID-19 vaccinations.
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Emerging story
Facebook and Twitter accounts have recently shared a claim that the World Health Organization has called on countries around the world to stop giving the third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine (i.e., the booster shot).
Some accounts attributed the claim to an Arabic news website called Al Ekhbariya.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s team has investigated the circulated claim and found it to be selective. The World Health Organization did not call on countries to stop giving the third COVID-19 ‘booster’ shot.
The claim was cut from a news post published by Al Ekhbariya this August, 2021. The WHO then called on rich countries to put a hold on giving the booster shot until the end of last September so that at least 10 percent of the world’s population is vaccinated.
Description: The screenshots capture the actual dates on which the news was published, on Aug. 4 and 5, 2021.
According to a report by the World Health Organization, dated Aug. 4, 2021, over 4bn doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered globally. More than 80% of them went to high- and middle-income countries, although they represent less than half of the world’s population.
Translated by Ahmed N. A. Almassri
