New Jerseyans ask Rep. Malinowski to support critical funding for COVID-19 response, Global Fund replenishment 

SPRINGFIELD, N.J.– As the Omicron variant subsides in the US and the world begins to loosen restrictions, a group of New Jerseyans are urging Representative Tom Malinowski to support $17 billion in supplemental COVID funding to prepare for the next, possibly more aggressive variant of COVID-19. Getting vaccine doses into arms in low-income countries is essential to prevent the virus from continuing to mutate freely and wreak havoc worldwide.

The advocates from The ONE Campaign, the global health and anti-poverty organization cofounded by Bono, will also seek Congressional commitments to replenish funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, an organization that has saved millions of lives over the last two decades. The US will host the Global Fund replenishment later this year.

The group will meet virtually with Rep. Malinowski on March 1 as part of The ONE Campaign’s Virtual Advocacy Day. They were selected to join over 150 activists from around the US for two days of briefings and trainings leading up to their day of Congressional meetings.

Nathalie Lissinna, a Springfield-based volunteer with the ONE Campaign: 

“If the last two years have taught us anything it’s that pandemics know no borders. If we want to put an end to case surges, hospital overflows, and economic aftershocks here in Springfield, we have to end COVID-19 everywhere. Representative Malinowski can ensure we’re on our way to doing so by supporting $17 billion in COVID-19 supplemental funding to provide more vaccine doses to low income countries, enhance the delivery systems needed to get doses into arms, and supply the treatments needed to save lives now. Underfunding the global response risks more variants and economic disruptions.

“Furthermore, COVID-19’s prolonged grip on the world threatens to set back years of progress in the fight against other preventable diseases like AIDS, TB and malaria. This is a risk we cannot afford to take. World leaders must take bold action to fight global poverty & disease, starting with a healthy replenishment of the Global Fund, which saves millions of lives every year.”

Background:

We are more than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic and unless world leaders urgently provide the funds and resources needed to vaccinate the world there could be two or more years to come. Glaring inequities in the global response thus far have stunted progress and allowed COVID-19 to persist, resulting in the Beta, Delta, Gamma, Omicron and, now, the more contagious Omicron BA.2 variant.

More than 10 billion doses have been administered worldwide, but only 1% of those doses have been administered in low-income countries, leading to drastically low vaccination rates. The world missed its December 2021 goal to vaccinate 40 percent of the world. As of February 23, nearly 90% of people in low-income countries are still waiting for their first dose.

The implementation of booster shots to combat COVID-19 variants has worsened this gap. Wealthy countries have administered nearly 16 times the number of booster shots than first shots in low-income countries.

It’s not just a shortage of doses contributing to gaps in vaccine access. World leaders have failed to provide adequate funding to ensure low-income countries have the resources to get vaccine doses safely and quickly into arms.

Recent polling from the ONE Campaign found overwhelming support among US voters for contributing to a global strategy to end COVID-19. 77% of voters support the US donating vaccines to low-income countries, and 76% of voters agree that, until we do so, we will continue to see more COVID-19 variants, each one potentially more contagious or deadly than the last.

About The ONE Campaign:

ONE is a global organization campaigning to end extreme poverty and preventable disease by 2030, so that everyone, everywhere can lead a life of dignity and opportunity. We are nonpartisan and pressure governments to do more to fight extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa, and empower citizens to hold their governments to account. Read more at www.one.org.

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