Peter Shokeir | [email protected]
The Rotary Club of Jasper is asking people to contribute to a Rotary fundraising campaign for helping eradicate COVID in the world.
In partnership with UNICEF, Rotary is raising funds to help increase equitable access and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to vulnerable populations in low-income countries.
鈥淲e鈥檙e really aware that nobody鈥檚 safe until everybody鈥檚 safe, so we鈥檙e trying to make sure that we can do something to help some of the parts of the world that are less fortunate than ours,鈥� said Sue Cesco, co-president of the Jasper Rotary Club.
More than 84 per cent of eligible Canadians and 60 per cent of the world population have received their first dose.
In low-income countries, only 9.5 per cent of the population have received at least one dose.
Vaccinating people in low-income countries will not only help the people there but also prevent variants from emerging that could affect the rest of the world.
鈥淲e really see the impacts on a community like ours; it鈥檚 been quite significant,鈥� Cesco said.
鈥淪o, we thought we are a community of travellers鈥攚e love to travel, we host travellers鈥攁nd we thought, you know, we should be looking at the world globally and seeing what we can do to help some of the people who are not able to travel.鈥�
This is not the first time that Rotary has undertaken a vaccination campaign, having worked over the years to eradicate polio across the world.
鈥淚 think that鈥檚 really one of the reasons why we thought it was our time to join the race and step up our game on this one, because we鈥檝e been really successful in the End COVID Now campaign,鈥� Cesco said.
鈥淎nd Rotary has an extensive network that鈥檚 already all over the world globally to make sure that these products can be distributed effectively, so by joining UNICEF, we鈥檙e actually partnering these networks as well, so it鈥檚 becoming a huge global initiative.鈥�
At $2.54 CAD for two doses, a donation of $100 will provide two doses for 39 people.
Donors could potentially give $25 and find three other people in order to raise $100, which Cesco called a 鈥済ive a vax pack.鈥�
With the help of other Rotary Clubs, the goal is to raise $150,000.
