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Protesters walk with coffins from Parliament Square to Downing Street during a protest organized by the group Global Justice Now on October 12, 2021. (Photo: Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)
With a new subtype of the Omicron variant spreading rapidly in dozens of countries, more than 320 scientists on Friday implored the U.K. government to stop obstructing a coronavirus vaccine patent waiver designed to bolster global production of the lifesaving shots.
"However laudable donations of vaccines might be, they will never be enough to end the pandemic."
In a letter to scandal-plagued British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the scientists and public health experts from the U.K., Canada, and the U.S. warned that the only way to put an end to the vicious cycle of new coronavirus mutations is to vaccinate "the vast majority of the world's population."
"Allowing huge numbers of people in low- and middle-income countries to remain unvaccinated is a reckless approach to public health that creates conditions where new SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern are more likely to develop," the letter reads. "Indeed, the Omicron variant was first identified in Botswana and South Africa, on a continent in which fewer than one in 10 are fully vaccinated."
"We call on the U.K. government to support the temporary waiver of intellectual property rules under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement for Covid-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to scale up and diversify production of the tools needed to end this pandemic," the letter continues.
\u201cLeaving billions without vaccines is reckless and could lead to new dangerous coronavirus variants & more deaths\n\nWorld leaders must wake up & act! Now!\n\n#PeoplesVaccine @GlobalJusticeUK \n\n\u201d— Madhu Pai, MD, PhD (@Madhu Pai, MD, PhD) 1643371127
More than 100 firms in the developing world stand ready to produce mRNA-based coronavirus vaccines, but pharmaceutical companies have refused to voluntarily share their recipes and technology, forcing low-income countries to rely on charity from rich nations and exploitative bilateral deals.
As a result of such inequities, fewer than 10% of people in low-income countries have received at least one coronavirus vaccine dose, according to Our World in Data.
Meanwhile, worldwide vaccine production remains far behind where experts say it needs to be to end the pandemic. One recent analysis estimated that 22 billion additional mRNA vaccine doses will be necessary to defeat the deadly virus.
"We urge you to put public health before the commercial interests of the pharmaceutical industry."
"However laudable donations of vaccines might be, they will never be enough to end the pandemic," Nigel Crisp, former chief executive of the U.K.'s National Health Service, said in a statement Friday. "There is untapped manufacturing capacity in the very nations that need vaccines and treatments most. For the sake of people's lives in those countries and our own, we must use it."
In October 2020, just months into the global pandemic, India and South Africa introduced a proposal at the WTO to suspend patent protections for coronavirus vaccines and therapeutics, a move that would allow developing countries to produce generic vaccines for their populations.
While the measure quickly garnered support from more than 100 WTO member nations, a group of rich countries--including the U.K., Canada, and Germany--objected as the pharmaceutical industry lobbied aggressively against the proposal.
Several new variants and millions of coronavirus-related deaths later, the patent waiver remains bottled up at the WTO with no breakthrough in sight. The Biden administration expressed support for a patent waiver back in May, but critics say it has not done nearly enough to pressure the U.K. and other allies to drop their opposition.
The WTO TRIPS Council, the body that oversees intellectual property rules, doesn't have any formal meetings on its schedule for 2022.
Maryam Shahmanesh, professor of Global Health at University College London and one of the signatories to the new letter, said Friday that "scientific knowledge should be shared, but the U.K. has helped a handful of companies privatize vaccine recipes that should be a public good."
"By ignoring the demands of low and middle-income countries and stifling global vaccine production with arbitrary intellectual property rules," she added, "the government risks prolonging the pandemic and endangering countless lives."
Read the scientists' full letter:
Dear Prime Minister,
We write to you as scientists, academics, and public health experts concerned about the emergence of the Omicron variant and the threat that future variants may pose to public health, the NHS, and the U.K.'s vaccination programme.
Vaccinating the vast majority of the world's population is the best way to prevent SARS-CoV-2 from mutating. However, as the U.K. has provided booster doses to up to one million people every day, more than 3 billion people across the world have yet to receive their first dose. More boosters have been delivered in rich countries than the total number of all doses administered so far in poorer nations.
Allowing huge numbers of people in low- and middle-income countries to remain unvaccinated is a reckless approach to public health that creates conditions where new SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern are more likely to develop. Indeed, the Omicron variant was first identified in Botswana and South Africa, on a continent in which fewer than one in ten are fully vaccinated.
Thanks to remarkable scientific innovations, we have a number of vaccines that remain highly effective against all known Covid-19 variants. Yet, unless we share this technology with the world and increase global vaccination coverage, vaccines will not be effective at stopping new variants of concern. We must use and expand domestic vaccine manufacturing and distribution capacity within low and middle-income countries. However, intellectual property rules and trade secrets remain a major barrier to this task.
We call on the U.K. government to support the temporary waiver of intellectual property rules under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement for Covid-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to scale up and diversify production of the tools needed to end this pandemic.
We also call on the British government to use all means at its disposal to pressure pharmaceutical companies to share their technology and know-how with the World Health Organization's (WHO) Covid-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) and its mRNA technology transfer hub in South Africa. This way, we can accelerate production and supply in low and middle-income countries and prevent further variants of concern from emerging.
The crisis posed by the Omicron variant is a stark warning of the dangers posed by global vaccine inequality. The pandemic does not stop at the U.K. border. Ensuring global vaccination coverage will help to prevent unnecessary loss of life and avert further variants of concern from emerging, including variants that could potentially render existing vaccines less effective, or variants that confer greater transmissibility or virulence. We urge you to put public health before the commercial interests of the pharmaceutical industry to prevent another year of uncertainty and tragedy.
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With a new subtype of the Omicron variant spreading rapidly in dozens of countries, more than 320 scientists on Friday implored the U.K. government to stop obstructing a coronavirus vaccine patent waiver designed to bolster global production of the lifesaving shots.
"However laudable donations of vaccines might be, they will never be enough to end the pandemic."
In a letter to scandal-plagued British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the scientists and public health experts from the U.K., Canada, and the U.S. warned that the only way to put an end to the vicious cycle of new coronavirus mutations is to vaccinate "the vast majority of the world's population."
"Allowing huge numbers of people in low- and middle-income countries to remain unvaccinated is a reckless approach to public health that creates conditions where new SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern are more likely to develop," the letter reads. "Indeed, the Omicron variant was first identified in Botswana and South Africa, on a continent in which fewer than one in 10 are fully vaccinated."
"We call on the U.K. government to support the temporary waiver of intellectual property rules under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement for Covid-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to scale up and diversify production of the tools needed to end this pandemic," the letter continues.
\u201cLeaving billions without vaccines is reckless and could lead to new dangerous coronavirus variants & more deaths\n\nWorld leaders must wake up & act! Now!\n\n#PeoplesVaccine @GlobalJusticeUK \n\n\u201d— Madhu Pai, MD, PhD (@Madhu Pai, MD, PhD) 1643371127
More than 100 firms in the developing world stand ready to produce mRNA-based coronavirus vaccines, but pharmaceutical companies have refused to voluntarily share their recipes and technology, forcing low-income countries to rely on charity from rich nations and exploitative bilateral deals.
As a result of such inequities, fewer than 10% of people in low-income countries have received at least one coronavirus vaccine dose, according to Our World in Data.
Meanwhile, worldwide vaccine production remains far behind where experts say it needs to be to end the pandemic. One recent analysis estimated that 22 billion additional mRNA vaccine doses will be necessary to defeat the deadly virus.
"We urge you to put public health before the commercial interests of the pharmaceutical industry."
"However laudable donations of vaccines might be, they will never be enough to end the pandemic," Nigel Crisp, former chief executive of the U.K.'s National Health Service, said in a statement Friday. "There is untapped manufacturing capacity in the very nations that need vaccines and treatments most. For the sake of people's lives in those countries and our own, we must use it."
In October 2020, just months into the global pandemic, India and South Africa introduced a proposal at the WTO to suspend patent protections for coronavirus vaccines and therapeutics, a move that would allow developing countries to produce generic vaccines for their populations.
While the measure quickly garnered support from more than 100 WTO member nations, a group of rich countries--including the U.K., Canada, and Germany--objected as the pharmaceutical industry lobbied aggressively against the proposal.
Several new variants and millions of coronavirus-related deaths later, the patent waiver remains bottled up at the WTO with no breakthrough in sight. The Biden administration expressed support for a patent waiver back in May, but critics say it has not done nearly enough to pressure the U.K. and other allies to drop their opposition.
The WTO TRIPS Council, the body that oversees intellectual property rules, doesn't have any formal meetings on its schedule for 2022.
Maryam Shahmanesh, professor of Global Health at University College London and one of the signatories to the new letter, said Friday that "scientific knowledge should be shared, but the U.K. has helped a handful of companies privatize vaccine recipes that should be a public good."
"By ignoring the demands of low and middle-income countries and stifling global vaccine production with arbitrary intellectual property rules," she added, "the government risks prolonging the pandemic and endangering countless lives."
Read the scientists' full letter:
Dear Prime Minister,
We write to you as scientists, academics, and public health experts concerned about the emergence of the Omicron variant and the threat that future variants may pose to public health, the NHS, and the U.K.'s vaccination programme.
Vaccinating the vast majority of the world's population is the best way to prevent SARS-CoV-2 from mutating. However, as the U.K. has provided booster doses to up to one million people every day, more than 3 billion people across the world have yet to receive their first dose. More boosters have been delivered in rich countries than the total number of all doses administered so far in poorer nations.
Allowing huge numbers of people in low- and middle-income countries to remain unvaccinated is a reckless approach to public health that creates conditions where new SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern are more likely to develop. Indeed, the Omicron variant was first identified in Botswana and South Africa, on a continent in which fewer than one in ten are fully vaccinated.
Thanks to remarkable scientific innovations, we have a number of vaccines that remain highly effective against all known Covid-19 variants. Yet, unless we share this technology with the world and increase global vaccination coverage, vaccines will not be effective at stopping new variants of concern. We must use and expand domestic vaccine manufacturing and distribution capacity within low and middle-income countries. However, intellectual property rules and trade secrets remain a major barrier to this task.
We call on the U.K. government to support the temporary waiver of intellectual property rules under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement for Covid-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to scale up and diversify production of the tools needed to end this pandemic.
We also call on the British government to use all means at its disposal to pressure pharmaceutical companies to share their technology and know-how with the World Health Organization's (WHO) Covid-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) and its mRNA technology transfer hub in South Africa. This way, we can accelerate production and supply in low and middle-income countries and prevent further variants of concern from emerging.
The crisis posed by the Omicron variant is a stark warning of the dangers posed by global vaccine inequality. The pandemic does not stop at the U.K. border. Ensuring global vaccination coverage will help to prevent unnecessary loss of life and avert further variants of concern from emerging, including variants that could potentially render existing vaccines less effective, or variants that confer greater transmissibility or virulence. We urge you to put public health before the commercial interests of the pharmaceutical industry to prevent another year of uncertainty and tragedy.
With a new subtype of the Omicron variant spreading rapidly in dozens of countries, more than 320 scientists on Friday implored the U.K. government to stop obstructing a coronavirus vaccine patent waiver designed to bolster global production of the lifesaving shots.
"However laudable donations of vaccines might be, they will never be enough to end the pandemic."
In a letter to scandal-plagued British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the scientists and public health experts from the U.K., Canada, and the U.S. warned that the only way to put an end to the vicious cycle of new coronavirus mutations is to vaccinate "the vast majority of the world's population."
"Allowing huge numbers of people in low- and middle-income countries to remain unvaccinated is a reckless approach to public health that creates conditions where new SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern are more likely to develop," the letter reads. "Indeed, the Omicron variant was first identified in Botswana and South Africa, on a continent in which fewer than one in 10 are fully vaccinated."
"We call on the U.K. government to support the temporary waiver of intellectual property rules under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement for Covid-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to scale up and diversify production of the tools needed to end this pandemic," the letter continues.
\u201cLeaving billions without vaccines is reckless and could lead to new dangerous coronavirus variants & more deaths\n\nWorld leaders must wake up & act! Now!\n\n#PeoplesVaccine @GlobalJusticeUK \n\n\u201d— Madhu Pai, MD, PhD (@Madhu Pai, MD, PhD) 1643371127
More than 100 firms in the developing world stand ready to produce mRNA-based coronavirus vaccines, but pharmaceutical companies have refused to voluntarily share their recipes and technology, forcing low-income countries to rely on charity from rich nations and exploitative bilateral deals.
As a result of such inequities, fewer than 10% of people in low-income countries have received at least one coronavirus vaccine dose, according to Our World in Data.
Meanwhile, worldwide vaccine production remains far behind where experts say it needs to be to end the pandemic. One recent analysis estimated that 22 billion additional mRNA vaccine doses will be necessary to defeat the deadly virus.
"We urge you to put public health before the commercial interests of the pharmaceutical industry."
"However laudable donations of vaccines might be, they will never be enough to end the pandemic," Nigel Crisp, former chief executive of the U.K.'s National Health Service, said in a statement Friday. "There is untapped manufacturing capacity in the very nations that need vaccines and treatments most. For the sake of people's lives in those countries and our own, we must use it."
In October 2020, just months into the global pandemic, India and South Africa introduced a proposal at the WTO to suspend patent protections for coronavirus vaccines and therapeutics, a move that would allow developing countries to produce generic vaccines for their populations.
While the measure quickly garnered support from more than 100 WTO member nations, a group of rich countries--including the U.K., Canada, and Germany--objected as the pharmaceutical industry lobbied aggressively against the proposal.
Several new variants and millions of coronavirus-related deaths later, the patent waiver remains bottled up at the WTO with no breakthrough in sight. The Biden administration expressed support for a patent waiver back in May, but critics say it has not done nearly enough to pressure the U.K. and other allies to drop their opposition.
The WTO TRIPS Council, the body that oversees intellectual property rules, doesn't have any formal meetings on its schedule for 2022.
Maryam Shahmanesh, professor of Global Health at University College London and one of the signatories to the new letter, said Friday that "scientific knowledge should be shared, but the U.K. has helped a handful of companies privatize vaccine recipes that should be a public good."
"By ignoring the demands of low and middle-income countries and stifling global vaccine production with arbitrary intellectual property rules," she added, "the government risks prolonging the pandemic and endangering countless lives."
Read the scientists' full letter:
Dear Prime Minister,
We write to you as scientists, academics, and public health experts concerned about the emergence of the Omicron variant and the threat that future variants may pose to public health, the NHS, and the U.K.'s vaccination programme.
Vaccinating the vast majority of the world's population is the best way to prevent SARS-CoV-2 from mutating. However, as the U.K. has provided booster doses to up to one million people every day, more than 3 billion people across the world have yet to receive their first dose. More boosters have been delivered in rich countries than the total number of all doses administered so far in poorer nations.
Allowing huge numbers of people in low- and middle-income countries to remain unvaccinated is a reckless approach to public health that creates conditions where new SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern are more likely to develop. Indeed, the Omicron variant was first identified in Botswana and South Africa, on a continent in which fewer than one in ten are fully vaccinated.
Thanks to remarkable scientific innovations, we have a number of vaccines that remain highly effective against all known Covid-19 variants. Yet, unless we share this technology with the world and increase global vaccination coverage, vaccines will not be effective at stopping new variants of concern. We must use and expand domestic vaccine manufacturing and distribution capacity within low and middle-income countries. However, intellectual property rules and trade secrets remain a major barrier to this task.
We call on the U.K. government to support the temporary waiver of intellectual property rules under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement for Covid-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to scale up and diversify production of the tools needed to end this pandemic.
We also call on the British government to use all means at its disposal to pressure pharmaceutical companies to share their technology and know-how with the World Health Organization's (WHO) Covid-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) and its mRNA technology transfer hub in South Africa. This way, we can accelerate production and supply in low and middle-income countries and prevent further variants of concern from emerging.
The crisis posed by the Omicron variant is a stark warning of the dangers posed by global vaccine inequality. The pandemic does not stop at the U.K. border. Ensuring global vaccination coverage will help to prevent unnecessary loss of life and avert further variants of concern from emerging, including variants that could potentially render existing vaccines less effective, or variants that confer greater transmissibility or virulence. We urge you to put public health before the commercial interests of the pharmaceutical industry to prevent another year of uncertainty and tragedy.
"Mr. Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, is making it impossible for us to regulate these life-threatening emissions," one activist said.
As smoke from Canadian wildfires triggered an air quality alert for New York City and Long Island on Sunday, activists with Climate Defiance disrupted a speech by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin in the Hamptons.
The disruption came four days after reports emerged that Zeldin's EPA was set to repeal the 2009 "endangerment finding" that greenhouse gas emissions "threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations." It is this finding that has given the EPA the authority to regulate climate emissions under the Clean Air Act.
"We are in a climate crisis largely caused by the burning of fossil fuels," the first activist to disrupt the speech said, according to video footage shared by Climate Defiance. "And Mr. Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, is making it impossible for us to regulate these life-threatening emissions."
Zeldin's speech took place at the Global Breakfast Forum, held at The Hamptons Synagogue.
"What are you going to say to your children when the Hamptons are underwater?"
Several of the young Jewish activists who disrupted the speech referenced their faith.
"The Torah commands us to be stewards of the Earth, not the oil industry," one activist said.
The audience largely responded with boos and jeers, and one attacked two of the activists with a chair, according to Climate Defiance video footage.
However, the Climate Defiance activists emphasized that Zeldin and the pro-fossil fuel Trump administration were the forces that would ultimately disrupt life and community in the Hamptons.
"History is going to remember you as a monster," one yelled out to Zeldin.
Another said: "Lee Zeldin, you have taken half of a million dollars from fossil fuels. What are you going to say to your children when the Hamptons are underwater?"
The disrupters also referenced Project 2025 and the broader Trump administration. According to the Project 2025 Tracker, Zeldin's EPA has achieved 57% of the Heritage Foundation road map's objectives.
"Lee Zeldin is carrying out the plans of Project 2025 and fossil fuels to a T," one said. "Your orange overlord does not care about any of you. All of you will be suffering from the rising seas and the worsening climate crisis."
A member of Extinction Rebellion NYC, who assisted with the protest, said in a statement: "Heritage has long been helmed by fossil fuel interests like Koch Industries, which has done some of the heaviest lifting to make sure nothing is done on climate change in the U.S. The majority of these wishes have been executed by Zeldin himself, and through Trump, who asked for $1 billion from oil companies in a dinner at Mar-a-Lago during his campaign. His Big, Beautiful Bill is a wish list directly penned in Project 2025. And when we hit 4°C of warming this century, we will know the true cost of these deadly practices."
Protesters also referenced the repeal of the endangerment finding, climate-fueled extreme weather events like Hurricane Sandy, and the smoke pollution clouding the region as Zeldin spoke.
"There is smoke in the air for another summer," one said. "This is only going to get worse and worse."
Both New York City Emergency Management and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation issued Air Quality Health Advisories through 11:59 pm Eastern Time on Sunday as smoke poured into the region from Canadian wildfires. Air quality was listed as "unhealthy for sensitive groups," and at 11:00 am Eastern Time on Sunday, New York City had the eighth worst air quality of any city on Earth.
The smoke recalled the thick orange haze that blanketed New York and other parts of the Northeast during the record-breaking Canadian wildfire season of 2023. The climate crisis makes wildfires more frequent and extreme.
"There is nothing humane or tactical about letting a trickle of aid in after a man-made famine has started while continuing to bomb starving men, women, and children, even in so-called safe zones," one advocate said.
The Israeli military began instituting tactical pauses in its assault on certain sections of Gaza on Sunday, as part of a plan to allow what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as "minimal humanitarian supplies" to enter the besieged enclave.
Several humanitarian organizations and political leaders described the Israeli approach as vastly insufficient at best and a dangerous distraction at worst, as Palestinians in Gaza continue to die of starvation that experts say has been deliberately imposed on them by the U.S.-backed Israeli military.
"Deadly airdrops and a trickle of trucks won't undo months of engineered starvation in Gaza," Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam policy lead for the Occupied Palestinian territory, said in a statement on Sunday. "What's needed is the immediate opening of all crossings for full, unhindered, and safe aid delivery across all of Gaza and a permanent cease-fire. Anything less risks being little more than a tactical gesture."
Israel announced a plan to institute a daily 10-hour "tactical pause" in fighting from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm local time in the populated Gaza localities of Gaza City, Deir al-Balah, and Muwasi, as The Associated Press explained.
"These actions are not pauses—they are part of an ongoing genocide that the world must act to stop."
However, on Sunday—the first day of the supposed pause—Israeli attacks killed a total of 62 people, Al Jazeera reported, including 34 who were seeking humanitarian relief. Another six people died of hunger, bringing the total death toll from starvation and malnutrition to 133, including 87 children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
"The Israeli government's so-called 'tactical pauses' are a cruel and transparent farce," said Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) national deputy director Edward Ahmed Mitchell in a statement on Sunday. "There is nothing humane or tactical about letting a trickle of aid in after a man-made famine has started while continuing to bomb starving men, women, and children, even in so-called safe zones. These actions are not pauses—they are part of an ongoing genocide that the world must act to stop."
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, meanwhile, called the pause "essential, but long overdue."
"This announcement alone cannot alleviate the needs of those desperately suffering in Gaza," Lammy said, as The Guardian reported. "We need a cease-fire that can end the war, for hostages to be released, and aid to enter Gaza by land unhindered."
The United Nations' World Food Program posted on social media that it welcomed the news of the pause, as well as the creation of more humanitarian corridors for aid, and that it had enough food supplies either in or en route to the area to feed the entire population of Gaza for nearly three months.
"A man-made hunger can only be addressed by political will."
Since the border crossings opened on May 27 following nearly three months of total siege, WFP has only been able to bring in 22,000 tons of food aid, about a third of the over 62,000 tons of food aid needed to feed the population of Gaza each month.
While it welcomed the pause, WFP did add that "an agreed cease-fire is the only way for humanitarian assistance to reach the entire civilian population in Gaza with critical food supplies in a consistent, predictable, orderly, and safe manner—wherever they are across the Gaza Strip."
Joe English, emergency communications specialist for UNICEF, emphasized that the limited pauses proposed by Israel were not the ideal conditions for treating serious malnutrition.
"This is a short turnaround in terms of the notice that we have, and so we cannot work miracles," English told CNN.
English explained that, while UNICEF can treat malnutrition, children who are malnourished require a course of treatments over an extended period of time in order to fully recover, something only truly possible with a cease-fire, which would allow the U.N. to reestablish the 400 aid distribution points it had set up across Gaza before the last cease-fire ended in March.
"We have to be able to reach people and also to reach people where they are," he said. "We can't be expecting people to continue to traverse many miles, often on foot, through militarized areas, to get access to aid."
In addition to bringing in food aid through trucks, Israel, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates all began air-dropping aid over the weekend. However, this method has been widely criticized by humanitarian experts as ineffective and even dangerous.
"The planes are insulting for us. We are a people who deserve dignity."
"Airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation. They are expensive, inefficient, and can even kill starving civilians. It is a distraction and screensmoke," U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini wrote on social media on Saturday.
"A man-made hunger can only be addressed by political will. Lift the siege, open the gates, and guarantee safe movements and dignified access to people in need," Lazzarini wrote.
Palestinians in Gaza also complained about the air drops.
"From 6:00 am until now we didn't eat or drink. We didn't get aid from the trucks. After that, they said that planes will airdrop aid, so we waited for that as well," Massad Ghaban told Reuters. "The planes are insulting for us. We are a people who deserve dignity."
In a reminder of what is at stake in effectively delivering aid to Gaza, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Sunday that "malnutrition is on a dangerous trajectory in the Gaza Strip, marked by a spike in deaths in July."
WHO continued:
Of 74 malnutrition-related deaths in 2025, 63 occurred in July—including 24 children under 5, a child over 5, and 38 adults. Most of these people were declared dead on arrival at health facilities or died shortly after, their bodies showing clear signs of severe wasting. The crisis remains entirely preventable. Deliberate blocking and delay of large-scale food, health, and humanitarian aid has cost many lives.
WHO said that the search for lifesaving aid was itself deadly: "Families are being forced to risk their lives for a handful of food, often under dangerous and chaotic conditions. Since 27 May, more than 1,060 people have been killed and 7,200 injured while trying to access food."
Israeli solders have reported that they had been ordered to fire on Palestinian civilians seeking aid.
In the face of Israel's atrocities, CAIR's Mitchell called for decisive action: "No more statements. Our government, Western nations, and Arab Muslim nations must act immediately to end the genocide, allow unfettered humanitarian aid into Gaza, secure the release of all captives and political prisoners, and hold Israeli leaders accountable for war crimes. Every moment of inaction contributes to the unimaginable suffering of everyone in Gaza."
"All across the country we showed that when our families stick together, we are powerful," one organizer said.
Tens of thousands of people in more than 225 towns and cities across the U.S. came out on Saturday as part of the Families First National Day of Action to protest Trump administration and Republican policies that defund the safety net while funneling unprecedented amounts of cash toward immigration enforcement.
The day of action came around three weeks after the U.S. House passed and President Donald Trump signed a budget bill that would strip 17 million of Americans of their health insurance and 2 million of their food aid while making Immigration and Customs Enforcement the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in U.S. history.
"Yesterday marked the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. And we are just days away from the 60th anniversary of Medicaid and Medicare at the end of this month. These policies represent a promise we made to each other: that no matter the ups and downs of life, our ability to take care of our families, from one generation to the next, should be supported," Ai-jen Poo, executive director of Caring Across Generations and president of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, told Common Dreams on Sunday.
"But a big ugly budget bill just passed," Poo continued, "that breaks that promise by making historic cuts to programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and SNAP, by using our tax dollars to stoke fear and rip families apart simply due to their immigration status. This is not what families want, and those who passed it must know that the vast majority of us want our tax dollars to go to healthcare and food, a safety net for families, supporting public funds for families, health, food, and the economic security for all of us, not billionaires."
"To show our power and resolve for a better future we came out in the thousands all across the country."
Families First is a coalition made up of over 75 organizations including Caring Across Generations, National Domestic Workers Alliance, MoveOn, Community Change Action, MomsRising, Planned Parenthood, People's Action Institute, Family Values @ Work, Families Over Billionaires, Fair Share America, Working Families Power, and labor unions like the Service Employees International Union (SEIU); American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees; American Federation of Teachers; and the National Education Association.
"To show our power and resolve for a better future we came out in the thousands all across the country, hosting over 225 events where we peacefully protested, to show the intergenerational face of those of us prepared to hold the ones who passed this bill accountable every day, and to take action. From spelling out the word 'familia' on the beach in California, taking a Medicaid Motorcade through the state of Indiana, to a rally in D.C. on the National Mall at the seat of power," Poo said.
Here are some highlights from Saturday's day of action.
On the National Mall across from the U.S. Capitol building, organizers capped a 60-hour vigil opposing Medicaid cuts with a rally at 12:00 pm ET.
Jennifer Wells, the director of economic justice at Community Change, spoke at the rally on the important role that Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) played in her life.
"I'm here both as an advocate and organizer and as someone who has lived the realities we're fighting to change, as a person who has been directly shaped by the programs that are currently under attack," Wells said. "I was a Medicaid kid, I was a SNAP kid. These programs kept me and my mom and my brother healthy, alive, and moving forward when we had nothing to fall back on."
Families gathered in Newark's Military Park to protest the budget cuts.
"Congress is helping the rich get richer while cutting healthcare, education, and support for working families," New Jersey Citizen Action wrote on social media. "We're making sure everyone knows who's responsible. We're fighting for a country where every child is cared for, no one goes hungry, and we all have access to the healthcare we need to live."
The Indiana Rural Summit planned a "Motorcade for Medicaid" to drive by rural hospitals across the state.
"We're using the event as a touchpoint to demonstrate the importance and value of local hospitals that are at risk of closing because they have historically relied on Medicaid for financial viability," organizer Michelle Higgs told The Republic. "We want to amplify the voices of those who are impacted, whether they're disabled, have a chronic illness, or are elderly."
Union members took to the streets from Miami, Florida to Seattle, Washington.
SEIU members marched in cities including Tampa; Orlando; Miami; Washington, D.C.; Allentown, Pennsylvania; New York City, Boston; and Las Vegas. Meanwhile, hundreds of union workers protested in downtown Seattle.
In Connecticut, SEIU members marched to the Brennan Rogers Magnet School, which closed due to a state funding shortfall.
"Cleaners, healthcare workers, construction workers, we are the ones that make this country run and we ask for no special privileges in return. but we are under attack," Ciro Gutierrez, a 32BJSEIU Connecticut commercial member, said.
Reflecting on the day of action, Poo concluded: "All across the country we showed that when our families stick together, we are powerful. When we share our stories, we break through. When we stand side by side—from small towns to big cities—we can't be ignored. And we won't be divided."