An expert group convened by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said it strongly supports urgent and broad access to booster doses, in a reversal of the UN agency's previous insistence that boosters weren't necessary and contributed to vaccine inequity, reports AP.

In a statement, the WHO said its expert group concluded that immunisation with authorised Covid-19 vaccines provide high levels of protection against severe disease and death amid the global circulation of the hugely contagious Omicron variant.

It said vaccination, including the use of boosters, was especially important for people at risk of severe disease.

Last year, WHOs director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for a moratorium on booster doses while dozens of countries embarked on administering the doses, saying rich countries should immediately donate those vaccines to poor countries instead.