Covid Action Scotland Public Meeting

July 19, 4pm – 5.30pm

ELECTIONS AHEAD: ADDRESSING THE COVID CRISIS

What do we need to see in Scottish parties’ manifestos for the 2026 elections to finally address the Covid crisis?

When? 19 July – Time: 4-5.30

Where? On Zoom – please register here https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/w2NcVkxvS6yVR0ksX2V99Q

Why?

Since 2023, political parties across Scotland have been pretending that Covid is over. As a result, there are no measures to protect anybody from infection – not even in hospitals and care homes. Ever fewer people can get a Covid vaccine on the NHS – not even people who are at particularly high clinical risk or pregnant are now eligible, even though health, including vaccination, is devolved.

As people continue to get re-infected with Covid, the number of people suffering from Long Covid and organ damage linked to infections keeps growing, people suffer more and worse viral and bacterial infections as a result of Covid compromising the immune system, and the NHS continues to struggle with higher levels of staff sickness as well as more patients needing help. At the same time, treatment and support for people with Long Covid is all but non-existent in Scotland. This situation will keep getting worse, unless policy makers act!

Agenda for the meeting:
This will be an interactive meeting. We will share and discuss what our key asks should be of Scotland’s political parties before they have finalised their 2026 election manifestos.

We will break into small groups to discuss different topics in more detail, including access to Covid vaccines, the need to mitigate against airborne infections in health and social care, clean air (including in schools), and guidance around testing and staying away from people while infected.

Share your thoughts with us beforehand:
We welcome any ideas for “asks” of political parties ahead of, as well as during the event. You might like to email them to us at zerocovidscotland[at]gmail.com

Together Against Covid Conference

September 28 @ 10:00 – September 29 @ 16:00 BST FREE

Workshops on:

• Workplaces
• Education (schools, colleges and universities)
• Health and social care

Also :

• Declaration of Rights, to breathe clean air and to be safe from airborne hazards in indoor public spaces
• Panel discussion on the need for new infection control guidelines in health and so

Organised by Covid Action UK

Click here for more details and registration.

Public meeting: Deep-dive into covid vaccines

Public meeting (via Zoom) on Saturday, 8th June, 3 – 4.45 pm

Please register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIpf-iqrjsoHd23eZJvQF0x5sqXuDE2Wru3

between late 2020 and early 2022, but haven’t been offered a booster vaccine since. The group of people eligible for boosters through the NHS continues to be reduced, in order to save costs. However, since April, both mRNA and Novavax Covid vaccination is available to anybody age 12+, giving those who can afford to pay for them a “choice”.

We will have two expert speakers who will talk and answer questions about how the vaccines work, what the differences between them are, and about how to discuss and respond to vaccine damage suffered by a small subset of the population, without denying their lived experience.

• Dr Kevin Kavanagh: Kevin is Board Chairman of Health Watch USA, as well as being Associate Editor of the Journal of Patient Safety and member of the Editorial Board of Infection Control Today. He has written over 200 OpEds regarding COVID-19 and published over 70 articles in the peer-reviewed literature, including 5 on the COVID-19 pandemic. 
• Harriet Carroll: Harriet is a Long COVID scientific consultant with a particular interest in Long COVID-like vaccine reactions, something she has personal experience of. She is a spokesperson for Scottish Healthcare Workers Coalition in a campaign for clean air in hospitals and holds honorary status at Lund University and University of Aberdeen.

After the inputs from our expert speakers, there will be an opportunity to discuss the different issues raised by them.

PUBLIC MEETING: COVID-19 AND OUR IMMUNE SYSTEM

Public meeting (via Zoom) on Saturday, 24th February, 2.30 to 4pm

Please register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0kdOGgqjwsG9PX7hXO_eQ6HD3uBprMnUeU

Recently, many people have been suffering from frequent infections, complaining about themselves and their children getting one bout of cold or flu after another. More serious infections, such as Strep A, are also on the rise. Some newspapers still write about “immunity debt” from a few months’ of lockdown years ago, but more and more evidence is emerging about the impact which Covid-19 infections can have on people’s immune systems.

Our expert speaker for the event will be Professor Yaneer Bar- Yam. He is the President of the New England Complex Systems Institute and co-founded the World Health Network, which advocates for good, science-based public health. Professore Bar-Yam has worked on multiple zoonotic outbreaks, and has worked with many teams around the world on the current pandemic.

Public Meeting: Safe Health Care for All – Saturday 18th November 2pm – 3.30pm on Zoom – more details and registration

BANNER PROTEST AGAINST WITHDRAWAL OF MASKS IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE

When and where?

Saturday, 20th May, 3.30 pm, outside the Scottish Parliament (meet between the artificial ponds and the Visitors’ entrance)

What will we be doing and what should you bring?

This is an authorised protest with banners and placards, and an opportunity for anyone wishing to speak to do so. Bring yourself, any friends and, if you have the time for it, a placard with your own message to the Scottish government.

Why?

The Scottish Government has written to all healthcare and social care providers to advise them that, from 16th May:

Care home staff should no longer be allowed to wear a mask if they choose to (unless they get a personal clinical risk assessment, which very few will be able to get). To our knowledge, this makes Scotland the first country to actually ban the use of masks in any setting!

Masks are no longer recommended and will no longer be supplied to staff healthcare settings (except where they would have been used pre-Covid or based on a personal clinical risk assessment).

This decision infringes on employees right to protect their own health and wellbeing within the workplace. It puts the health and welfare of both staff and patients at increased risk from Covid and other airborne viruses.

In Scotland COVID-19 is still killing around 50 people each week (around 600 in the UK). It has resulted in nearly 2 million people (3%) of the UK population now living with Long COVID. A figure which is sadly likely to increase as according to the World Health Organisation, one in ten infections lead to Long COVID or other post-COVID conditions.