WHO: ‘No evidence' that 'healthy children or healthy adolescents need boosters'

The World Health Organization’s chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said during a media briefing Tuesday that there is no scientific evidence that healthy children nor adolescents need to get booster shots.

"The aim is to protect the most vulnerable, to protect those at highest risk of severe disease and dying. Those are our elderly populations, the immunocompromised, people with underlying conditions, but also health care workers because if a lot of health care workers get infected as we see now, they can be out sick, and we don’t want them getting severely ill."

She added, "There’s no evidence right now that healthy children or healthy adolescents need boosters. No evidence at all."

Swaminathan’s comments come two weeks after the US Centers for Disease Controls and Prevention approved booster shots for adolescents 12 to 17 years old, and as the Omicron variant spread rapidly, resulting in a massive surge in cases. However, the variant appears to be much more mild than previous strains.

President Joe Biden repeatedly promised while campaigning for the White House that he would "shut down the virus." Yet, under his tenure in office cases have skyrocketed to record highs.

More Americans have died from COVID-19 under his leadership than under the term of former President Donald Trump.

Biden’s approval rating in a Quinnipiac University poll last week collapsed to 33 percent. Only 39 percent approved of Biden’s handling of the virus while, 55 percent disapproved.