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

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