FACT FINDERS: COVID booster prompts ethics questions

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - While health experts are urging eligible Americans to get the COVID booster, some have questions about the ethics of getting a third shot while many others around the world still have not gotten their first.

Dr. Joe Gerald, Associate Professor of Public Health at the University of Arizona, says you should get the booster.

We know as long as there is a host for COVID there is a chance it can mutate into something worse. Experts say vaccination is key to helping to reduce the number of possible hosts.

As we have learned in this pandemic, what happens in other parts of the world does not necessarily stay there. We are seeing that right now with the arrival of Omicron in America.

So, vaccinations are important not just in the U.S., but around the world. However, here’s why Dr. Gerald says you should still get the third shot despite the fact many people elsewhere have not gotten their first shot.

”The doses that we have aren’t going to be repurposed and sent abroad. So, if you’re considering getting a third dose, booster here in the United States you should go ahead and do that and do so, guilt-free,” he said.

Dr. Gerald adds this is not an “either/or situation,” saying we need to be doing both. He believes we need to be giving people here at home a booster while also doing more to help other nations that are struggling to get their citizens vaccinated.

So far, the U.S. has already sent or pledged to send more than 1.1 billion doses to nations around the world.

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