Here’s how you can help
“Visible minority” is the term often used to refer to non-Indigenous racialized people. Think about it for a minute. In reality, 80 percent of people around the world are of African, Asian, Latin American, and Arab descent. They are not the minority―they are the global majority.
And only 1 percent of this global majority has been vaccinated against COVID-19. In fact, most won’t be vaccinated until 2023/24.
We need to take action now to ensure that everyone around the globe has access to vaccines. Because the COVID-19 crisis won’t end for anyone until it ends for everyone.
There is something you can do to help. Many things, actually.
First, you can join our Moderator in calling on the Canadian government to share excess vaccines, allocate more funds to COVAX, increase Official Development Assistance, and suspend the international agreement on property rights to allow vaccines to be produced more quickly and affordably around the world. You might use the e-mail template on our Call for Global Vaccine Access for All page. Check out the Moderator’s video message(opens in a new tab) too.
Second, you can support Mission & Service partners working hard to contribute to food and relief, distribute personal protective equipment, and host programs to prevent and control the spread of the disease.
Third, for just $25 dollars, you can give the gift of a two-dose vaccine. Pay it forward through the special gift of a vaccine through our United Church’s Gifts with Vision(opens in a new tab).
Fourth, you can join the whole of the church as we pray for the world together:
Loving and caring God,
We have done everything we’ve been told:
Worn masks, stayed home, gotten our shots―
Isn’t it about time all this is over?
Let us remember always that no, it’s not over;
It’s not over for people in so many places we never think about:
People whose lives were already a struggle
Now overflowing with illness and loss and grief,
And often with no masks, no shots, no way to stay safe at home.
Remind us, God of the whole world,
That the whole world is our family.
That this won’t be all over until it is over for all.
And let us do all we can
To give our whole-world family what we take for granted:
Hope for a future.
Amen