COVID-19 Vaccination Boosters: when and why?
This seminar will explore ethical considerations in debates about the provision of booster doses
of COVID-19 vaccines. The discussion will address rationales for providing booster shots and
competing accounts of whether and when they may be justified in practice. Given significant
inequities in access to COVID-19 vaccines within and between countries, important questions
arise not just about the value of providing boosters to specific populations, but also whether and
how boosters might be justifiable while so many are still waiting for their initial vaccine doses.

The following questions will form the basis of the seminar’s panel discussion. Seminar attendees
are invited to submit questions in advance of the seminar when they register or during the live
discussion.
 What are the ethical arguments for and against providing booster doses of COVID-19
vaccines?
 Should countries refrain from booster shots until we have global vaccination coverage?
 WHO has called for a moratorium on boosters until the end of 2021. Can any exemptions
to this moratorium be justified, such as for specific, high-risk populations?
Date: 30 September 2021, 13:00 (Thursday, -1st week, Michaelmas 2021)
Venue: Venue to be announced
Speakers: Prof. Michael Parker (University of Oxford), Professor Andrew Pollard (University of Oxford), Dr Kate O'Brien (World Health Organization), Dr Ayoade Olatunbosun-Alakija (Africa Union Africa Vaccine Delivery Alliance for COVID-19)
Organising department: Nuffield Department of Population Health
Booking required?: Required
Booking url: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/9816324244276/WN_lTgTWoNOQRW9qUX-D4dXkw
Audience: Public
Editor: Hannah Freeman