WASHINGTON — Additional COVID-19 vaccine booster shots are not needed for the general population, leading scientists including two departing senior US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials and several from the World Health Organization (WHO) said in an article published in a medical journal on Monday.

The scientists said more evidence was needed to justify boosters. That view disagrees with US government plans to begin offering another round of shots to many fully vaccinated Americans as soon as next week, contingent on approval from health regulators.

As COVID-19 cases caused by the Delta variant of the virus rise, President Joseph R. Biden’s administration is concerned that infections among those already vaccinated are a sign that their protection is waning and has pushed boosters as a way to rebuild immunity.

The WHO has argued that the vaccines are still needed for first doses around the globe. “Any decisions about the need for boosting or timing of boosting should be based on careful analyses of adequately controled clinical or epidemiological data, or both, indicating a persistent and meaningful reduction in severe disease,” the scientists wrote in the Lancet medical journal.

The risk-benefit evaluation should consider the number of severe COVID-19 cases that boosting would be expected to prevent, and whether it is safe and effective against the current variants, they said.

“Current evidence does not, therefore, appear to show a need for boosting in the general population, in which efficacy against severe disease remains high,” the scientists wrote.

Some countries have begun COVID-19 booster campaigns, including Israel, providing some of the data on which the Biden administration has made its case for additional shots.

The article’s authors included the FDA Office of Vaccines Research and Review Director Marion Gruber and Deputy Director Phil Krause, both of whom plan to leave the agency in the next several months.

They acknowledged that some individuals, such as those who are immunocompromised, could benefit from an additional dose.

Broader use of boosters may be needed in the future if there is waning immunity to the primary vaccination or if new variants evolve so that the vaccines no longer protect against the virus, they said.

Boosters could also prove risky if introduced too soon or too frequently, the scientists wrote.

A panel of experts that advises the FDA on vaccines plans to meet on Sept. 17 to discuss additional doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech shot, the first step in a wider booster roll-out.

The article’s authors included WHO top scientists Soumya Swaminathan, Ana-Maria Henao-Restrepo and Mike Ryan.

“Current vaccine supplies could save more lives if used in previously unvaccinated populations,” the authors wrote. — Reuters

GRAB HOLDINGS, INC., Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing and delivery giant, cut projections for 2021 as the region is battling one of the world’s worst Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) outbreaks due to the fast-spreading Delta variant.

The Singapore-based company, which is set to go public in the US through a deal with a blank-check company, expects full-year adjusted net sales of $2.1 billion to $2.2 billion, according to a statement Tuesday. That compares with $2.3 billion it forecast in an investor presentation in April. Grab also expects full-year gross merchandise value of $15 billion to $15.5 billion, compared with an earlier projection of $16.7 billion.

“The Delta variant has unfortunately hit the region hard,” Chief Executive Anthony Tan said during the company’s earnings call on Tuesday. “Southeast Asia now has the world’s highest COVID mortality rate per capita and lockdown measures are still in place across major cities in the region.” In Vietnam, even food delivery services are being restricted, affecting Grab’s business, he said.

With infections rising as the more contagious delta variant of COVID spreads, many parts of Southeast Asia, home to 650 million people, have reimposed curbs on movement that hamper consumer-reliant economies. Lockdowns have devastated businesses and dealt a setback to the region’s middle class. In July, the Asian Development Bank downgraded its Southeast Asian growth forecast to 4% from 4.4%.

During the second quarter, Grab’s net loss widened to $815 million from $718 million a year earlier. Revenue more than doubled to $180 million.

Grab reported its second quarterly financial results as it prepares to merge with Altimeter Growth Gorp., the special purpose acquisition company of Brad Gerstner’s Altimeter Capital Management. Grab has postponed the $40-billion deal — one of the largest-ever mergers with a SPAC — to the fourth quarter as it works on an audit of the past three years’ accounts.

Grab reiterated on Tuesday the merger is set to close this year. “We remain on track to becoming a publicly listed company and to complete our business merger with Altimeter Growth Corp. in the fourth quarter of this year,” Chief Financial Officer Peter Oey said during the call. — Bloomberg