Last week, Doctor Tedros (Director-General of the W.H.O.) answered our call by welcoming our request.
Countries are struggling to deal with COVID-19 outbreaks, and second waves are increasingly becoming likely. In short: no country is out of the wood until all our safety, as the risk of reinfection is high. While we hope that a vaccine will be available soon, a key question remains: who will get it first?! There won’t be enough vaccines for every country nor everyone in the short term.
That’s why in May we launched a week-long campaign demanding that the World Health Organization ensures priority access to the vaccine for health workers. We believe that those that are risking the most should be the first in line when we talk about vaccines, regardless of their nationality.
Thousands of people participated in the campaign, and lots of health workers amplified our voice. Despite our early successes (read a recap here), we did not expect what happened next…
Last week, Doctor Tedros (Director-General of the W.H.O.) answered our call by officially supporting our request! This is an outstanding success for a growing movement like ours, and it has only happened because thousands of people joined forces to demand that we put first those risking everything to protect the world. Thank you!
While this is a first step forward, we need to ensure that those aren’t just empty words, but that the World Health Organization works with Member States to give priority access to health workers and the most vulnerable. We then need to keep world leaders accountable. For this reason, we are exploring to re-launch the campaign and double-down our efforts in the fight against COVID-19. Stay Tuned!