In October, UMD students who are a part of the Free the Vaccine Campaign (a group advised by HPM’s Melvin Seale), joined a Funk Rally in Washington D.C. to advocate for publicly funded medicines, including a COVID-19 vaccine, that are affordable and accessible for all. With a coalition of organizations such as Oxfam, UNIAIDs, Public Citizen, Space in Action, Gogo DC, and many more, the group rallied with music and a positive spirit to bring attention to the issue and to demand that the Department of Health and Human Services ensures a safe and effective vaccine for all in the coming months.
The students also marched with a "4Maryland" banner to encourage the University of Maryland to sign on to the OpenCOVID pledge which would ensure open access to COVID-19 research that could help to bring down the price of COVID-19 therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines. Learn more: freethevaccine.org.
To see highlights from the rally, watch the Mourn, March and Movement video.
The rally organizers discussed the People's Vaccine for COVID-19 effort with We Act Radio.