Covid Action

Online Launch: Covid Action, Zero Covid’s new name
2022-09-11 15:00 - 17:30 (Europe/London) | Zoom
Join Professor Stephen Reicher of Independent SAGE, Janet Newsham of the Hazards Campaign, Alena Ivanova from Global Justice Now, and Joan Twelves from Covid Action. They will speak about the major objectives of the campaign to massively reduce infection rates and deaths from Covid. Attendees will be invited to put forward ideas for major Covid Action priorities to stop deaths and serious harm from Covid.
The event will be 3-5.30pm on Sunday 11 September. Register in advance here: https://bit.ly/covidactionlaunch

Launching Covid Action: Zero Covid's new name
2022-08-31 18:30 - 19:30 | Covid Memorial Wall, North Wing, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 3FT, United Kingdom
Launching Covid Action Zero Covid’s new name
Bring banners and placards
Hear speakers from Covid Action, Bereaved Families for Justice, Keep our NHS public, local trade unionists, Florence Eshalomi MP (TBC)

Campaign call: What action is needed to stamp down on Covid?
2022-07-25 18:00 - 19:30 | Zoom
An opportunity to share campaigning ideas and action to pressure a government in crisis. All welcome!
Click here to register.

As another wave hits, have we learnt anything from previous experience? - Zero Covid Coalition
2022-07-18 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom
This is one of the worst pandemics in modern times. It’s not the first, and it probably wont be the last, so what lessons have been learnt?

By the end of last year, The Lancet estimated that the true global death toll from Covid was 18 million. It can only have risen since. This is one of the worst pandemics of the modern era. But it isn’t the first, and it would be very surprising if it were the last.
So, we have experience in dealing with them. But the question remains, have governments learnt anything at all from past experience, or the current one.
We are delighted to have a discussion with renowned author Laura Spinney. Among other significant works, she has written Pale Rider, The Spanish Flu of 1918 and how it changed the world.
We will be talking to he about her book, the lessons that have not been learnt and those that still could, and her prognosis for the future. This event features a participants’ Q&A.
Click here to register.

At what cost? The price of staying alive in the Covid era
2022-06-27 18:00 - 19:30 | Zoom
Register here: https://bit.ly./workaction

The cost-of-living crisis is throwing millions of people’s lives into chaos. The Tories have shown that they are not willing to address the root causes, so the trade union movement is mobilising for pay rises and action on soaring energy bills.

But what can unions do to take on the Covid crisis that is intersecting with the cost of living? Free tests are a thing of the past, sick pay is too low to take time off work and there is no self-isolation support available. Like the Covid pandemic, the cost of living is bound up with climate breakdown, but the Tories’ solution is to double down on new fossil fuel infrastructure here in Britain.

On Monday 27 June at 6pm, we are excited to be holding a speaker event with Karam Bales from the NEU and Jackie Santana from the IWGB. Karam has been a leading figure in the NEU’s response to Covid. Jackie is an organiser for the IWGB Cleaners branch, which is currently in dispute with London Bridge Hospital over poverty pay and access to sick pay. Join for a discussion on how the unions can take on Covid during the cost-of-living crisis.

The Global Covid Pandemic: An International Perspective
2022-06-13 18:00 - 19:30 | Zoom
A discussion with Professor Yaneer Bar-Yam, founder of the World Health Network
Register by clicking the zoom link below or go to bit.ly/ZCglobal
Yaneer will brief us on the current international situation, telling us what new developments there are in different countries, how the situation has changed since his last talk to us, and what developments are being predicted. He will then tell us what hope he thinks there is that things will get better and what campaigners could or should focus on. Yaneer is in frequent contact with scientists, activists, public health professionals and academics from around the world. He has become a leading authority on the Covid pandemic, having founded what some view as ‘the People’s WHO.’

Why good indoor air quality saves lives and protects public health
2022-05-05 18:00 - 19:30 | Zoom
We are teaming up with the Hazards Campaign to discuss how indoor air quality is vital for protecting public health and preventing infections in schools and workplaces.

Click here to sign up on Eventbrite.

International Workers Memorial Day - Doctors in Unite
2022-04-28 13:30 - 15:30 | Covid Memorial Wall, North Wing, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 3FT, United Kingdom
Please join us at the Covid Memorial Wall (Westminster bridge end), to remember our colleagues who have died while working on the front line to keep us safe from the Covid-19 virus. Most workers don’t die of mystery ailments, or in tragic “accidents”. They die because employers decided their safety just wasn’t that important. We demand that all employers make health and safety in the workplace a priority.
Covid-19 has caused the deaths of 2,129 health and social care workers in England and Wales up to the end of February 2022, according to the ONS. Protections for these workers have been inadequate since the start of the pandemic, and even now most are refused adequate protection against the main way the virus spreads, through the air.
Other essential workers, like bus and train drivers, shop workers, cleaners, security guards, teachers, food industry workers and others have also paid a heavy price due to the government’s catastrophic handling of the pandemic. Many have 2-3 times the death rate from Covid compared to managers, as do Black and Asian workers. This has to stop, people should not have to risk their lives doing their jobs.
We will have a number of speakers from trade unions and community groups to mark the event. There will also be a minutes’ silence to commemorate those who have lost their lives at work. Further details once speakers are confirmed.
Click here to sign up.
International Workers Memorial Day is commemorated all over the world on 28 April. The International Labour Organisation has made healthy and safe workplaces a priority. There are lots of events here in the UK, and in many countries. Please see here for further information https://www.tuc.org.uk/iwmd-events

Campaign call: How a good public health system could fight Covid
2022-04-25 18:00 - 19:30
By outsourcing testing and tracing to the private sector, the government has wasted billions of pounds of public money and failed to protect the public properly. Now we are expected to pay for our own tests and infection rates are at record highs.
Louise will talk about how our public health system should work and what it could look like if it was funded properly.
Dr Louise Irvine is an activist from Keep Our NHS Public, Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign, and Health Campaigns Together.

Register: https://bit.ly/publichealthzc

Campaign call: Another Covid surge. We won't be taken for fools!
2022-04-04 18:00 - 19:30 | Zoom
The government wants to pretend Covid has gone away. So it is scrapping free tests and all protections as Covid surges yet again.
Join us for a strategy discussion on what actions we should take to expose their folly

Register: https://bit.ly/keepfreetests

Campaign Call: Decolonise Vaccines
2022-03-21 18:00 - 19:00 | Zoom
Join our open online campaign call on Monday 21st March at 6pm to hear about how Big Pharma and the UK Government are perpetuating vaccine apartheid.
Speakers:

Tim Bierley, pharma campaigner at Global Justice Now
Maurine Murenga, Lean on Me Foundation, Kenya

The global response to Covid-19 has been so unequal that some global south activists have called it ‘vaccine apartheid’. While those of us in the UK have been offered third and even fourth doses of the vaccine, across the whole of Africa only 11% are double jabbed.
This injustice is rooted in a colonial history that has devalued the lives of people in the global south over centuries. And it is reinforced by global economic rules designed to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of multinational corporations in the global north.
For the pharmaceutical industry, making massive amounts of money for their wealthy shareholders has long been more important than the lives of people in the global south. Twenty years ago, Big Pharma even sued Nelson Mandela’s government when it tried to import cheaper medicines, because South Africa was unable to afford the astronomically-priced HIV drugs they needed during the AIDS.
Today, these companies are making record-breaking profits while most people in low-income countries still haven’t received a single jab. And the British government is blocking demands by countries in the global south to break the covid monopolies that maintain the stranglehold of large pharmaceutical corporations over these medicines.
In this vaccine apartheid, rich countries get prioritised access and everyone else must be grateful for the charity of their former colonisers. Join our Decolonise Vaccines online event to find out how covid monopolies help Big Pharma rake in record breaking profits at the expense of people’s lives, how countries in the global south are fighting back against the profit-driven pharmaceutical system, and what we can do to transform health provision globally to dismantle colonial dynamics which date back centuries.

Global Justice Now - Decolonise Vaccines speaker tour
2022-03-14 19:00 - 2022-03-31 21:00 | All over the country
Why we need to end pharma monopolies and win a new global health system!

With:
Fatima Hassan – human rights lawyer , social justice activist & founder of Health Justice Initiative in South Africa
Professor Anne Pollock – professor in global health and social medicine at King’s College London
Aasiya Versi – Just Treatment Vaccine and Health Justice Organiser
+ guest speakers from access to medicines campaigns, academics, journalists, student activists
The global response to Covid-19 has been so unequal that some global south activists have called it ‘vaccine apartheid’. While those of us in the UK have been offered third and even fourth doses of the vaccine, across the whole of Africa only 11% are double jabbed.
This injustice is rooted in a colonial history that has devalued the lives of people in the global south over centuries. And it is reinforced by global economic rules designed to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of multinational corporations in the global north.
For the pharmaceutical industry, making massive amounts of money for their wealthy shareholders has long been more important than the lives of people in the global south. Twenty years ago, Big Pharma even sued Nelson Mandela’s government when it tried to import cheaper medicines, because South Africa was unable to afford the astronomically-priced HIV drugs they needed during the AIDS.
Today, these companies are making record-breaking profits while most people in low-income countries still haven’t received a single jab. And the British government is blocking demands by countries in the global south to break the covid monopolies that maintain the stranglehold of large pharmaceutical corporations over these medicines.
In this vaccine apartheid, rich countries get prioritised access and everyone else must be grateful for the charity of their former colonisers. Join our Decolonise Vaccines speaker tour to find out how covid monopolies help Big Pharma rake in record breaking profits at the expense of people’s lives, how countries in the global south are fighting back against the profit-driven pharmaceutical system, and what we can do to transform health provision globally to dismantle colonial dynamics which date back centuries.
Join the campaign to create a global health system that puts people ahead of profit!

Brighton
Mon, Mar 14, 19:00
Friends Meeting House
Cambridge
Tue, Mar 15, 17:00
Lee Hall, Wolfson College, University of Cambridge
London
Fri, Mar 18, 19:00
King’s College London
Leeds
Sat, Mar 19, 16:00
University of Leeds
Manchester
Mon, Mar 28, 19:00
St Thomas Centre
Leicester
Tue, Mar 29, 19:00
George Davies Centre Lecture Theatre, University of Leicester
Newcastle
Wed, Mar 30, 19:00
Herschel Building, Newcastle University
Stirling
Thu, Mar 31, 19:00
University of Stirling • Stirling
Find all the events on Eventbrite.

Zero Covid Scotland - Scotland needs a credible COVID strategy
2022-03-12 14:00 - 15:30 | Zoom
How can you ever achieve an #InclusiveNewNormal if you weaken and remove protections at a time when infection rates in the community are still very high, not everyone has even been offered a vaccine and the approach to clean air just consists of suggesting you open a window or saw bits off doors?
Programme:
1. Professor Surajit Ray, Senior Lecturer in Statistics, University of Glasgow
2. Hannah Hassan, Zero Covid Scotland
3. Professor Andrew Waterson, Expert in Public Health, University of Stirling
4. Discussion
5. Summing up by Janet Newsham, Hazards Campaign

Click here to register.

Hazards Campaign - Candlelit vigils to remember workers killed by Covid-19
2022-03-11
March 11th is the anniversary of when WHO declared the Covid-19 outbreak a pandemic.
Thousands of workers have died because they have been exposed to infection at work and workers need employers to control the risks and Governments to provide the resources needed to protect workers and others in workplaces.
The Hazards Campaign encourages workers and their representatives to organise or attend events across the UK to remember all those workers who have died because of Covid-19 since the pandemic began.
Light candles, hold up pictures of work colleagues and loved ones who have died and invite people to say something about them.
Invite family members, workers, local trade unionists and politicians to support the event and remind them that workers are still facing risks in the workplace every day.
It should be going dark by about 6.00pm in March. If people can’t or don’t want to attend an event they can to put a poster in their window or light a candle safely on their door step, and post a picture online using a hashtag.
Some suggestions for social media
#Candle4CovidkilledWorkers
#VigilForWorkers
#ShineLightOnWorkers
Share details of your events
Send information about what you are doing in your city, town or workplace to janet@gmhazards.org.uk so that we can share them on social media and through our trade union networks.

Zero Covid UK - Zero Covid Conference: Towards a Covid-free world
2022-02-27 13:30 - 17:00 | Zoom
Join the Zero Covid UK campaign for a conference about the current state of play and how we can challenge the global injustices of the pandemic.

1.30pm – Opening Plenary: Two years on: the state we’re in

Prof Robert West, Emeritus Professor, Behavioural Science and Health, UCL,
Janet Newsham, Hazards Campaign,
Billie Cooper, Care and Support Workers Organise

2.45 – break
3pm – Workshops

Big Pharma and vaccine apartheid with Tim Bierley (Global Justice Now)
Busting the Covid myths with Rowan Fortune (Zero Covid)
Challenging the media narrative with Greg Philo (Glasgow Uni Media Unit)
Organising for zero Covid

3.45pm – break
4pm – Closing Plenary: Towards a Covid-free world

Jacky Davis, Keep Our NHS Public
Steve Reicher, Independent Sage
Joan Twelves, Zero Covid UK

Register here: https://bit.ly/zerocovidconf

SOS NHS - National Day of Action
2022-02-26 | All over the country
Zero Covid UK is backing the SOS NHS coalition and helping to build the national day of action. See this page for more information.

Our NHS is facing its worst ever crisis, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Here’s why we’re making these demands of the Government now.
This is a national emergency. Government could invest properly in health but over the last decade and more, we’ve seen it doesn’t have the political will to do so. Instead it turns to private sector providers who have failed the NHS time and again, wasting tens of billions during the pandemic. We need change now.
This will be the hardest winter ever in health and social care for a generation. We must act now to save staff morale, avoid a mental health crisis among health and care staff and safeguard services for patients and service users.
There has also been a total failure of government during the pandemic. Public health measures have been undermined and far too many have been allowed to die, especially among vulnerable groups. 47,000 residents in care homes died during the pandemic, and six out of ten deaths overall have been disabled people.
Government policies have led to growing levels of inequality which have exacerbated the crisis. 30% of those admitted to ITU with Covid-19 were of ‘non-white ethnicity’ despite making up only 14% of the population.
We also recognise that essential steps to keep NHS workers safe are still not properly in place, with PPE provision still well below what’s required and that immediate steps must be taken to improve ventilation in clinical areas.
The Health and Care Bill addresses none of these problems. It will not put an end to contracts going to the private sector, draining resources from the NHS.
To save lives, we need emergency funds now to make up for an annual deficit of around £35bn. We must recruit and retain more frontline staff and pay them properly. In future we need a return to a fully publicly funded and provided national health service, protected from private companies who put profit before patients.
OUR THREE DEMANDS:

Approve emergency funding of £20 billion* to save lives this winter
Invest in a fully publicly owned NHS & guarantee free healthcare for future generations
Pay staff properly: without fair pay, staffing shortages will cost lives

Zero Covid Coalition - Don't end self-isolation for people with Covid-19
2022-02-24 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom
Self-isolation for people with Covid-19 is one of the last safeguards we have against Covid, ending it will make the situation worse. The Zero Covid Coalition (which this campaign is part of) will be holding an online rally to demand the continuation of self-isolation.

About this event

We have called an emergency meeting in response to Boris Johnson’s announcement that he will remove all remaining safeguards against the spread of the virus, including the requirement for people who are infected to remain in self-isolation for a short period.
The pandemic is far from over, with both new cases and deaths remaining at deeply worrying levels. The Health Secretary has already told us that the pressures on the NHS will continue for years to come and even intensify. Now is not the time to be removing a crucial measure to prevent the virus spreading.
It seems clear that this announcement is not based on scientific advice and many believe it is politically motived.
Come to our meeting to hear leading experts on the announcement, and what this might mean for public health and society in general.

Zero Covid - Campaign call: Defend self-isolation and free testing
2022-02-21 18:00 - 19:30 | Zoom
This meeting will be an opportunity to discuss how to organise against the planned scrapping of self-isolation rules and support. There will be no speaker and instead this will be an opportunity for strategic discussion.

Click here to register on Zoom.

Zero Covid Scotland - Covid Crisis in Scotland's Schools
2022-02-19 14:00 - 16:00 | Zoom
Scotland is averaging 7K new Covid cases a day. With 0% of 5-11 year olds and only 32% of 12-15 year olds vaccinated, and little progress on school ventilation, is this the right time for the Scottish Government to be lifting restrictions? Join this public meeting on Saturday 19th February, 2pm to discuss.
Programme:

Professor Deepti Gurdasani, Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology at Queen Mary University of London: Impacts of Covid-19 on children and the evidence on effective Covid mitigations for schools.
Nuzhat Uthmani, primary school teacher and EIS rep based in Glasgow: Covid-19 – the reality in Scottish schools: lack of mitigations, impacts on teachers and educational disruption.
Speaker from Long Covid Kids Scotland: The impacts of Long Covid on children and their families.

This event has now passed. Watch the recordings here.

Zero Covid Coalition - Covid-19 has not gone away. Only the restrictions on it have.
2022-02-08 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom
The pandemic is not receding, with hospitalisations and deaths still high. Ignoring Covid-19 is reckless and this negligence must be opposed.
There are widespread and false claims that the pandemic is receding. Globally, new cases are currently well over 3 million per day and around 4 times higher than the previous peak in April 2021. In addition, this has happened extraordinarily suddenly, with the surge taking place in the first few part of this year. With a short time lag new daily deaths have also begun to rise. If there is such a thing as a ‘mild’ pandemic, this is not one of them.

The misinformation and even propaganda about the pandemic receding is clearly wrong. In Britain this is almost all based on the fall in recorded new cases. Yet deaths are still rising and hospitalisations remain stubbornly high. It is not known how much non-reporting there is of people who have had a positive lateral flow test.
Despite this the government has abandoned its own ‘Plan B’, PCR tests are largely a thing of the past and people are no longer advised to work from home. It is even reported that the requirement for those infected to self-isolate will be dropped. This is a reckless approach.
At our last meeting we reached over 48,000 people online. Join us for our next meeting, where will discuss the current phase of the crisis.
Zero Covid UK is part of the Zero Covid coalition convened by the Morning Star and Diane Abbott MP which organises regular online speaker meetings like these.

Zero Covid UK - Covid in Taiwan: How a zero Covid country managed the pandemic
2022-02-08 18:00 - 19:30 | Zoom
Zero Covid will be hosting Shu-Ti Chiou MD, PhD, MSc to find out about how Taiwan has responded to the pandemic.
Click here to register!
Shu-Ti is the founder and President of the Health & Sustainable Development Foundation, and Global Vice President for Capacity Building at the International Union for Health Promotion & Education. Shu-Ti is a prominent public health practitioner, who played a leading role in Taiwan’s response to SARS. She is now closely involved in Taiwan’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Taiwan has had very low case rates and very few deaths throughout the pandemic. Learning from SARS, Taiwan decided to prevent community spread of Covid-19 through travel controls, masking, tracing and isolation. In May 2021 there was a big spike in cases, which was successfully stopped. Taiwan is now facing an emerging Omicron outbreak.
Join the campaign call to find out more about how Taiwan’s zero Covid strategy has worked, what political issues it has raised and what we can learn from them here!

Via Economics Observatory

Read more about Covid in Taiwan:

What we can learn from Taiwan’s response to the covid-19 epidemic
How has Taiwan navigated the pandemic?

The Peoples Covid Inquiry and where does it lead
2022-01-24 18:00 - 19:30
with John Puntis, co-chair of Keep Our NHS Publlic (KONP), chair Leeds KONP. Retired consultant paediatrician.
The People’s Covid Inquiry was a series of hearings hosted by KONP last year. You can read the report and access other material here.
Register here: https://bit.ly/PeoplesCI

Covid in Scotland - what do we face and what can we do?
2022-01-22 14:00 - 15:30 | Zoom
We are fast approaching 2 years into the pandemic in Scotland. Virologist Dr Jeremy Rossman joins Zero Covid Scotland to plan for the future.

With the new Omicron variant we need to understand the science, and have the politics to get things right.
Dr Rossman will focus on what the current situation is. What the concept of ‘living with the virus’ means and what that would result in if we don’t adjust strategies (excess deaths, strain on hospital services, long-term illness, including in children, strain on school services, significant economic disruption, and more variants needing adjustment of vaccines which won’t necessarily keep pace with the variants).

Mike Downham of Zero Covid Scotland will speak about what the campaign has done in the past and provide some suggestions about what we might do going forward.
Join Dr Rossman and Mike Downham to discuss what you can do to help.

SOS NHS - Emergency Funding Now!
2022-01-19 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom
The NHS is facing its worst crisis ever. So much so, we believe this is a national emergency.
In 2010, after a decade of investment, our NHS was delivering its best-ever performance: After more than a decade of austerity – despite heroic efforts by staff to keep services afloat – it has sunk to its worst-ever. The problems were growing before the pandemic, but have been deepened by the sudden and continued loss of capacity and continued high level of Covid infections.
But it doesn’t have to be this way, with the political will we can fully fund our NHS, end interference from the private sector, pay staff properly and once again secure an NHS able to keep us all safe.
We’ve secured an amazing line-up which includes:
· Sonia Adesara – KONP & Cat Hobbs – WOI (chairs)
· Nadia Whittome – Labour MP
· Christina McAnea – Unison
· Alison Treacher – Care and Support Workers Organise
· David Wrigley – BMA
· Amelia Womack – Green Party
· John Lister – HCT
· Helen Salisbury – Independent SAGE
· Steve North Unison
· Ariel Mammana – Ambulance Driver GMB
· Striking worker from GOSH
· Barry Gardiner – Labour MP
· Laura Pidcock – People’s Assembly
· Holly Johnston – NHS Workers Say No
· Alia Butt – NHS Staff Voices
· Paul Nowak – TUC
· Unite speaker tba
· GMB speaker tba

Zero Covid campaign call: Plague Islands
2022-01-11 18:00 - 19:30
Denizens of the Plague Islands and friends in other places: You are all warmly invited to join us on our next Campaign Call, Tuesday 11 January at 6pm
We will hear from people from across the infected isles and discuss the current Covid situation and what can be done about it!
Register at https://bit.ly/Plagueislands

Where next for the Covid crisis? - Zero Covid coalition
2022-01-10 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom
Where next for the Covid crisis, as Omicron cases surge will the government finally do the right thing?

More details to be announced soon.
Speakers Confirmed:

Diane Abbott
Kevin Courtney
Deepti Gurdasani
Emma Kelly
Richard Murphy
Helen O’Connor
Bell Ribeiro-Addy

Register on Eventbrite.

The pandemic: where we are now and how we go forward
2021-12-07 18:00 - 19:30
with Dr Helen Salisbury who is a member of Independent SAGE, a GP, Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Department of Primary Care at Oxford University, and a columnist for the BMJ.
Register at https://bit.ly/zcforward

Covid and Climate
2021-11-22 18:00 - 19:30
The Covid pandemic and climate disaster are closely linked. Environmental catastrophe, mega-cities and agri-business have created the conditions for this virus to emerge.
The interactions of humans with animals whose habitats we have destroyed allowed this virus to jump species – and then spread through globalised trade and travel.
Other pandemics such as Aids, Ebola and SARS had similar origins. They are driven by capitalism’s insatiable drive for profit and contempt for the ecology of the earth.
Rob Wallace, author of Big Farm Means Big Flu, will join us to explain how flu and other pathogens emerge from an agriculture controlled by multinationals. He works at the Agroecology and Rural Economics Research Corps (ARERC), a group of independent scientists, educators, and agricultural practitioners.
Watch it back here.

A People's WHO
2021-11-08 18:00 - 19:30

World Heath Network presents
2021-11-02 08:00 - 17:00
Check out the programme and register here
Please note Eastern time is 4 hours earier than UK time.
