The effectiveness and feasibility of the COVID-19 vaccine booster shot have been up for debate, as the Delta variant of the virus portrays a threat of a deadly wave.

US agencies, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Thursday said that Americans who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus do not need a booster shot for now. The United Kingdom, however, is gearing up for a booster campaign. 

Vaccine makers Pfizer and BioNTech plan to ask US and European regulators to approve a booster dose, which is the third dose after a two-shot regimen. 

Also read: A Pfizer/Moderna booster after a J&J shot? Here is what experts say

The world’s medical bodies and several countries have taken different stands on the booster dose: 

1) World Health Organisation (WHO): The UN body has said that it was not clear whether boosters will be needed to maintain protection until further data is collected. 

2) United States: With the FDA and CDC’s call for no booster doses for Americans who are fully vaccinated, Pfizer and BioNTech’s proposal is expected to find some resistance in the United States.

Also read: Will India be able to vaccinate its adult population in 2021?

3) Britain: After having said that it would buy 60 million more doses of Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine ahead of the possible booster programme, Britain surely leans towards the idea of the third dose. The country plans to order 100 million doses. Britain’s booster campaign, likely to start in September, will mainly focus on the elderly and most vulnerable. However, there has been no official confirmation. 

4) The European Medicines Agency: The EMA on July 9 said that it was too early to determine whether more than the two shots would be called for. 

Also read: CoronaVac jab less effective against Gamma variant: Study

5) Russia: Russian health clinics in Moscow have started offering booster shots earlier this month to people vaccinated six months ago or more, Reuters reports. 

On Saturday, World Health Organisation (WHO)’s chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan warned that the pandemic ‘isn’t slowing down’. She said that a large part of the world is facing oxygen shortages, a lack of hospital beds and higher mortality, as per Bloomberg reports.