Brentwood youth activist confronts MPs in parliament
The university student from Brentwood met with 31 MPs as part of the ONE Campaign.
Michelle Kafe demanded answers about unequal covid-19 vaccination access across the globe.
Submitted by One
On February 23, a 19-year-old university student from Brentwood headed to parliament to take part in the ONE Campaign's Day of Action.
Michelle Kafe joined the campaign to urge the UK government to do more to provide Covid-19 vaccines to low-income nations, to ultimately speed up the end of the pandemic.
Along with her fellow activists, Michelle met with thirty-one different MPs to explain why they believe that ending the pandemic globally should be a priority for the UK.
ONE's Day of Action also saw youth ambassadors hand over a petition signed by over 130,000 people, all asking for governments to go faster and further to vaccinate the world and end the pandemic.
Michelle, who is currently studying law at the University of Bristol, also provided MPs with their own personal booklets, which included messages addressed to them from their constituents, expressing concern over the slow pace of the vaccine delivery to developing countries.
Speaking about the campaign, Michelle from Brentwood, Essex said: “The UK must play its part in global efforts to end the pandemic. Financing the global pandemic fight is key in achieving that.”
Romilly Greenhill, UK director of The ONE Campaign, said: "Ensuring low-income countries vaccinate their population will prevent new variants from emerging. This, therefore, protects public health, the NHS, our economy, and children’s education here in the UK for the long term. Vaccinating the world is in our national interest, too."
At present, some low-income countries have very low vaccination levels, meaning that their populations are not sufficiently protected and the risk of new variants emerging are high.
Speaking with the activists, MP for Gedling Tom Randall, said: "I’m proud that the UK has been at the forefront of the international response to vaccinating the world against Covid-19. There’s much more to do and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to speak to representatives of the ONE Campaign to discuss the challenges that we still face.”
Recent polling commissioned by ONE showed that 63 per cent of Brits would support the UK to share vaccines with developing countries rather than deliver more boosters at home, to prevent the spread of new variants.
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