The Bishop of Warrington, Bishop Bev Mason, has joined calls to support the Unicef led Vaccinaid campaign to fund jabs around the world. The campaign offers people practical ways to give thanks for their Covid-19 vaccination, by making a voluntary donation to help pay for jabs for others around the world.
It aims to help fund almost two billion Covid-19 vaccines for health workers and the most high-risk and vulnerable people on our planet. The money raised will also help UNICEF provide tests and treatments to people in 190 countries around the world through the global COVAX initiative.
Bishop Bev, who has had her first vaccination said “For me having the vaccination felt like the first day of spring. We are so blessed in our country with an efficient vaccine rollout program, clean water, sanitisation, access to food, healthcare and education. By supporting Vaccinaid, we can do our bit for others who are finding life in a pandemic really tough and we can really make a difference.
VaccinAid is being supported by other faith groups, businesses, celebrities and the NHS.
Using the Crowdfunder platform, you can give individual donations, or communities - including parishes - can sign-up to fundraise together.
Local churches are being encouraged to join the campaign, with resources available to download for free on the AChurchNearYou.com Resource Hub to share on social media, newsletters or notice boards.
For Bishop Bev the reality of covid came home through her participation in the Anglican Bishops in Dialogue. She said “ Last year, Bishop Ellinah Ntombi Wamukoya, the Bishop of Swaziland - one of our friends through Anglican Bishops in Dialogue shared with us the devastating impact of Covid upon Swaziland - among the world’s poorest. I was especially troubled to learn of the significant rise in births among young girls who would ordinarily have been at school, and for whom school is now no longer an option. This story is repeated among our friends in Kenya and beyond.
"There is the seen and the unseen impact of this terrible disease which Is devastating lives and communities.
"Bishop Ellinah was a remarkable church leader – the first woman to be elected as a bishop of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa and of the whole African continent. She died from Covid earlier this year.
Let’s stop the deaths! Let's show our gratitude for the vaccines we are receiving, Let's give the world a hot