WCC NEWS: Stateless people and COVID-19 vaccines: webinar will explore a just approach

A 15 March webinar will explore how churches can help ensure stateless people are not left behind in national COVID-19 vaccine rollouts. UNHCR high level segment on Statelessness, United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland, 2019, Photo: Samuel Mungure/WCC 04 March 2021 As people work together to respond to the global health crisis, attempting to make vaccinations accessible to all as soon as possible, is a race against the virus mutating and becoming resistant to existing vaccines. Since the beginning of the pandemic, governments have been confronted with difficult decisions to make, including avoiding economic disaster. Stateless people—individuals with no legal identification—are at heightened risk of being overlooked and forgotten in some contexts. This webinar will explore answers to the question: How can governments ensure that COVID-19 doesn't disproportionately affect people and communities who have always been overlooked and treated as invisible? The pre-existing vulnerability of stateless people puts them at greater risk of being left behind when national public health campaigns, such as vaccinations, are planned. Participants will receive suggestions for how churches help fight vaccination inequity, and ensure that national vaccination campaigns are inclusive of citizens and non-citizens.   Link to join the webinar, Monday 15, 13:00-14:30 CET See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 350 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC acting general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, from the Orthodox Church in Romania. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland