Rebecca . L . Root

On March 2nd, Insecurity Insight and the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition hosted a webinar to discuss the reported violence and threats against health care during the COVID-19 pandemic. At this webinar, Insecurity Insight launched its interactive map: http://mapbox.insecurityinsight.org/ that shows violence and threats against health care. This live map shows the incidents of threats and violence against health care workers, facilities and transport related to COVID-19 since the beginning in January 2020. In addition, members of the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition spoke further on these reported violence and threats. The webinar will also have guest speakers who shared their stories of what they have seen happened in their countries.

Ronald T. Piervincenzi, CEO of USP, says every COVID-19 vaccine produced will require different storage conditions, delivery volumes, and numbers of doses, creating a lot of complexity for the health care worker and the pharmacist on the front-lines of delivery. Such challenges, although surmountable, could jeopardize the speed of rollout, he says, adding that if equitable access to a vaccine — specifically to low- and middle-income countries — isn’t seen in the early part of 2021, pressure will become severe. According to the People's Vaccine Alliance, if more isn’t done to ensure there are enough doses, 9 in 10 people may not be vaccinated in up to 70 lower-income countries next year.