“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services.” -- Article 25, UN Declaration of Human Rights 

This week is Human Rights Week, which commemorates the UN Declaration of Human Rights. Access to health care is a human right – yet millions of people in the US alone avoid needed medical care every year. Fear of immigration status, a lack of health insurance, stigma, an inability to access care during business hours, in remote locations, or while migrating – many factors may prevent a sick person from getting to the doctor. This week, we celebrate the clinicians and advocates who are working every day to bring health justice to our most marginalized community members. Their work on the frontlines in 2020 was more critical than ever, as waves of the virus continue to strike immigrant and migrant communities and workplaces at disproportionate rates and the economic fallout of COVID-19 hits these same communities hard, which further exacerbates their ability to access health care when needed. 

This week’s Five on Friday continues our efforts to support frontline clinicians who are serving immigrant and migrant communities, by sharing some of the most useful articles and resources that we gathered this week. Here they are, recommended by MCN staff: 

Roxana shared OSHA’s press release on protecting temporary holiday worker safety, which links to numerous resources specifically applicable to temporary workers including warehouse and delivery safety.

Kaethe forwarded on the announcement of the National Academies’ December 18th webinar, “Vaccine Confidence to Prevent COVID-19,” which will cover “current state of vaccine confidence, reasons for hesitancy, and best practices for messaging.”

Del and Kaethe each recommended the new In/Vulnerable series of comics, illustrating the COVID-19 pandemic through different people’s experiences. 

Double Weekly Win:  Amy shared the CDC’s brand new ventilation recommendations on their COVID-19 webpage, finally adding this critical measure to the official recommendations to prevent COVID-19 spread indoors. 

Double Weekly Win: Laz celebrated the research accomplishments of this immigrant (and fellow Hungarian): “This Scientist’s Decades of mRNA Research Led to Both COVID-19 Vaccines.”

Have a safe and healthy weekend.

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