Shot in the arm

Jewish social media influencers sought for vaccine equity campaign

Global initiative aims to spread the word for UNICEF vaccination effort through those with big followings

By ToI Staff 13 February 2022, 3:20 pm Edit

A nurse administers an AstraZeneca vaccination against COVID-19, at a district health center giving first, second, and booster doses to eligible people, in the low-income Kibera neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. At least 2.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines donated to African countries have expired, the Africa Centers for Disease Control said Thursday, citing short shelf lives as the major reason. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Olam, a network of more than 60 Jewish and Israeli NGOs, is coordinating a social media campaign to fight COVID-19, and is asking Jewish influencers to urge their followers to donate to the cause in a weeklong effort that launches February 14.

The #EndThePandemic campaign supports UNICEF’s work overseeing the procurement, storage, and delivery of 4.1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses in 2022 to vulnerable, high-risk populations with little access to the shots.

A tracked link has been created to record donations made through the campaign.

OLAM is asking participants to post the link, and to urge followers to donate through the pop-up window.

“The Jewish concept of hakarat hatov, expressing thanks for what we’ve received, is a value embraced by our community,” said OLAM CEO Dyonna Ginsburg.

“Less than 10% of people in low-income countries are vaccinated. In order to make an impact at scale, the Jewish community must join forces with large, multisector efforts tackling the issue of global vaccine access. Doing nothing in this case was simply not an option,” Ginsburg said.

Equity of access to vaccines is a pressing global issue, with wealthier countries buying up the initial batches of shots and leaving many parts of the world without.

The WHO has for months demanded that countries do more to accelerate the distribution of vaccines in poorer nations, calling on all countries to vaccinate at least 70 percent of their populations by the middle of this year.

Half of the WHO’s 194 member states missed the previous target of vaccinating 40 percent of their people by the end of 2021, and 85 percent of people in Africa were yet to receive a single shot, the organization said last month.

AFP contributed to this report.