A Vaccine for All
MANIFESTO – 17 May 2021
“A Vaccine for All”
#daretocare
A Right to care for all
We believe that health is a fundamental right of each and every human being.
We, therefore, want to reaffirm the universal right to care and the recognition of the dignity of every human being, in every corner of the world.
We want all people to have guaranteed access to health services, as an application of the fundamental right to life, which prioritises access for the poorest, implements medium and long-term projects that go beyond emergency responses, in a way that is shared with the many organizations that care for this across the world.
Vaccine: a global common good
In this time of pandemic, we are certain that a global common evil, such as the Covid-19 virus, can only be defeated with a global common good: vaccination, which is made accessible to all, prioritising the most vulnerable and the most in need across the planet, regardless of their individual or national income.
We, therefore, ask that every person on the planet have access to vaccines, the fruit of the work of the international scientific community, in a universal, fair, free and fast manner.
We encourage projects targeting nations lacking access to the various forms of treatment; we encourage governments to practice vaccine internationalism, which is the exact opposite of closed nationalism that can never defeat the virus. We encourage the developed of vaccine production capacity even in poor countries.
There is an urgent need to address the inequalities in access between citizens of high-income countries (one in four vaccinated) and poor and developing countries (one in five hundred vaccinated). This is the only way we can avoid the catastrophe of millions more deaths in the coming months and the serious risk to the entire world community, including high-income countries, due to the emergence of vaccines-resistant variants.
We mobilize a spirit of justice for universal access to vaccine through the temporary suspension of intellectual property rights and the transfer of know-how and supply chain necessary to increase production and distribution capacity in less developed countries. The international community must also assume this political responsibility by entering into agreements with pharmaceutical companies to ensure contracts with more generous quantities and prices for poor countries.
Our culture, however, is not to wait only for top-down solutions, but to roll up our sleeves and assume our responsibility. That is why, we are now mobilizing a symbolic campaign in support of the people of the Amazon.
Prevention, vaccine and cure for the “riberinhos” of the Amazon
We are proposing an online fundraising campaign for the people of the Amazon living on the edge of the Amazon river, where the population of the “ribeirinhos” cannot reach health centers and therefore cannot access any social or health assistance. The “Barco Hospital Papa Francisco” was set up for them: from September 2019 – it reaches different regions and assists families in need of care, staying 10 days in one region and then travelling to another in order to ensure prevention and treatment for all – a population of about 1 million people.
People who are mostly “invisible” far from urban centers and places of care; exhausted by the pandemic and by floods that are forcing their families – sustained mainly by income from fishing, which is now unviable – to suffer the devastating effects of the social, health, economic, and environmental crisis.
Doctors and nurses, health professionals and volunteers are on board the “Barco Hospital” equipped with a high-tech intensive care unit, lung ventilators, ultrasound scanners, electro-medical equipment, clinical and dental surgeries, hospital beds, an operating room, surgical inpatient beds, pharmacy, laboratory, radiography, mammography, and ultrasound room.
The aim of these donations is to buy vaccines for all (based on the evolution of local norms), Covid kits for hygiene and prevention of the virus, protective materials and for treatment during and after the illness, and basic food baskets.
The initiative began as a concretization of the #DareToCare pathway and was discussed during the “United World Week 2021” (1st – 9th May 2021). It is promoted by the Youth for a United World and by Politics for Unity Movement, open to people of all ages, faiths, convictions, and to all organizations that believe in the universal right to care, the internationalism of vaccines and adhere to the project.
This project is oriented to a limited social and geographical reality, but precisely because of its concreteness, it wants be an initial response to one of the many fragile realities, in which we are already present and working, in a climate of trust and in work already in place. We are open to extending the action to other parts of the world with the same strength and effectiveness. There is an added value in taking care of the people of the Amazon: there is also a serious ecological crisis that will increasingly affect the climate and the natural balance of the rest of the world. The vaccine and the care for the Amazon are necessary for the lives of these populations and at the same time allow us to also draw attention to a reality that must be protected in every way and at any cost, to save lives and our mother earth.
The actors
AMU – ASSOCIAZIONE AZIONE PER UN MONDO UNITO – onlus, which for 35 years has been working for the achievement of the highest possible degree of reciprocity between people, communities, and peoples, acts in conjunction with the ASSOCIAÇÃO LAR SÃO FRANCISCO DE ASSIS NA PROVIDENCIA DEUS – ALSF (a legal person of private law non-profit organization that manages the Barco Hospital Papa Francisco), provides a PayPal account for donations in favor of this project
The ASSOCIAÇÃO LAR SÃO FRANCISCO DE ASSIS NA PROVIDENCIA DEUS – ALSF commits to use the proceeds to purchase vaccines, covid kits for hygiene and prevention, protection materials and care treatments, basic foodstuffs for the benefit of the populations it meets in the different stages between the regions and municipalities in which it lands during 2021.
Locally, it will collaborate with the Sistema Único de Saúde, Brazil’s public health system.
Transparency and membership of the project
A dedicated internet page will allow donations to be made in full security, to have an update on the development of the project, a final report with accounts and an up-to-date picture of the organizations’ adherence to the project.
The promoters
The “A vaccine for All #daretocare” campaign is promoted by a partnership of movements, health organisations and research centres around the world who believe in the universal right to care and the internationalism of vaccines. Together we have signed the manifesto.
List of Promoters
Movimento dei Focolari; AMU (Azione per un Mondo Unito Onlus); Associação Lar São Francisco de Assis na Providência de Deus (Brazil); Economy of Francesco; Comunità di Sant’Egidio; UCOII – Unione Comunità Islamiche d’Italia; RETINOPERA (Italy) – Programa Latinoamericano de Tierras, hacia una fraternidad posible – Red Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Tierras; Cátedra “Sociedad, Política, Fraternidad”- Universidad Nacional de La Plata (Argentina); ASCES-UNITA Centro Universitário Tabosa de Almeida. Caruarú (Pernambuco – Brazil); RUEF (Rete universitaria per lo studio della fraternità); Promoción Integral de la Persona para una Sociedad Fraterna (Mexico) – #FareRete Grottaferrata (Itay); ASD Sunrise 1 Roma (Italy); Centro di Cultura per lo Sviluppo “G. Lazzati” (Italy); Nuovi Orizzonti (Italy); CLAdeES (Centro Latinoamericano de Evangelización Social); FOCSIV (Italy); Associazione AFN onlus; Fundacion Igino Giordani (Spain); Accademia Kronos (Italy); Asociación “Unidad y Fraternidad” Caravaca de la Cruz (Spagna); Asociación “Levántate y Anda” (Spain); Religion for peace – Italy; Acciones de Familias Nuevas (Spain); Ciudades por la Fraternidad (Spain); Gen Verde International performing arts group; CONSULUS (Global Innovation Consultancy); Associazione Internazionale New Humanity; Gen Rosso International performing arts group; Shanti Ashram – Gandhian center for development, learning and collaboration – International Center for Child and Public Health – Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu – India); Istituto Universitario Sophia;Associazione Vivamazzonia O.D.V.; Suore Missionarie di San Carlo Borromeo – Scalabriniane “Provincia Europea”; Associazione Città per la Fraternità; ACLF Aljucer; Sermig Fraternità della Speranza; l Picchio, Consorzio di cooperative sociali cattoliche;
