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Human Rights Must Guide Pandemic Responses: 7 Lessons from COVID-19

Today marks a new chapter in the fight against COVID-19, as the Public Health Emergency (PHE) expires in the United States. Similarly, on May 5, 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the end of the Public Health Emergency of International Concern, downgrading COVID-19 from an emergency to an “ongoing health issue” with a need […]

May 11, 2023
COVID-19
Blog

Doctors Who Knowingly Spread COVID-19 Lies Should be Held Accountable

Originally published by STAT, September 27, 2022. The California State Legislature has sent a bill to Gov. Gavin Newsom that strengthens discipline for doctors who knowingly spread Covid-19 misinformation. Legislation like this is sorely needed across the country. More than two years into the pandemic, Covid-19 misinformation still runs rampant. Some comes from doctors spreading lies about unproven — […]

October 5, 2022
COVID-19, When Doctors Harm
Press Release

Title 42 Has “No Basis in Public Health”: PHR Files Amicus Brief to Rescind Inhumane Border Policy

Medical experts and human rights advocates from Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) filed an amicus brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit today highlighting key public health evidence in support of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) efforts to rescind Title 42 border expulsions. Since the policy was […]

August 2, 2022
Asylum, COVID-19
Press Release

“Shortsighted and a Failure of Leadership”: Congress and White House Must Act on Global COVID-19 Response and Vaccine Equity: PHR

In advance of the second Global COVID-19 Summit, co-hosted by the United States, Belize, Germany, Indonesia, and Senegal, the following statement is attributable to Michele Heisler, MD, MPA, medical director at Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and professor of public health and internal medicine at University of Michigan:  “As the world surpasses 15 million deaths […]

May 10, 2022
COVID-19
Blog

Six Priorities for New White House Coronavirus Coordinator, Dr. Ashish Jha

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) welcomes and congratulates Dr. Ashish Jha on his new position as the White House Coronavirus Coordinator, which he began this month. PHR is grateful for Dr. Jha’s service on our Board of Directors and wishes him well in this critical role. Dr. Jha takes up this new role at a […]

May 2, 2022
COVID-19
Press Release

Federal Court Decision on Mask Mandates “Handcuff” U.S. Public Health Response to COVID-19

Following Monday’s ruling by a federal judge in Florida to strike down masking requirements on airplanes, trains, buses, and other public transportation, public health experts are concerned this decision sets a precedent in undermining the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) authority to guide and direct response to public health emergencies now and […]

April 20, 2022
COVID-19

“Expelling asylum seekers under Title 42 has not done anything to protect us from COVID” : Congressional Hearing on Title 42 and the Need to Restore Asylum at the Border

Submitted by Adam Richards, MD, PhD, MPH, DTM&H, Associate Professor of Global Health and Medicine at The George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health and School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) Member of the Board of Directors and the PHR Asylum Network. Thank you for the opportunity […]

April 6, 2022
Asylum, COVID-19
Press Release

Two Years Later and Six Million Dead, Global Vaccine Access is Paramount as COVID-19 Rages On: PHR

NEW YORK – Two years after the World Health Organization’s pandemic declaration, the unrelenting spread of the COVID-19 virus has fractured the bedrock of public health systems, claimed millions of lives, sickened tens of millions of people, and further exacerbated health disparities globally. Marking the two-year anniversary, the following statement is attributable to Michele Heisler, […]

March 12, 2022
COVID-19
Press Release

COVID-19 Dis-/Misinformation and State Legislature Attacks on Medical Boards Undermine Public Health: PHR 

Amid a surge of state legislature efforts to limit medical boards’ ability to investigate patient harm, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) warns of undue political influence and a rising tide of disinformation that threaten public health.    At least 26 states are considering legislation to either limit state medical boards’ authority to investigate patient harm […]

March 1, 2022
COVID-19, When Doctors Harm
Press Release

White House Support of Permanent Legal Status for Families Separated at U.S.-Mexico Border is Necessary But Not Sufficient

NEW YORK — In response to the Biden administration and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s formal support of Congressional action to provide permanent legal status for victims of the Trump-era family separation policy, migrant health experts with first-hand experience evaluating psychological trauma sustained by separated families are calling on the Biden […]

February 3, 2022
Asylum, COVID-19
Press Release

Medical Experts Urge DHS, ICE to Provide COVID-19 Booster Doses to Detention Populations as Infection Rates Soar

Medical professionals are raising the alarm about the U.S. government’s failure to provide COVID-19 vaccine booster doses to migrants and asylum seekers in government detention. In a letter addressed to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Tae D. Johnson, leading medical professionals and […]

January 31, 2022
Asylum, COVID-19
Open Letter

Open Letter on COVID-19 Boosters in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Detention Facilities

January 27, 2022 Dear Secretary Mayorkas and Acting Director Johnson, As concerned medical school faculty, we write to express serious concerns about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) failure to provide COVID-19 vaccine booster doses to eligible immigrants held in ICE detention facilities nationwide. The COVID-19 pandemic and the recent emergence of the Omicron variant […]

January 28, 2022
COVID-19
Press Release

To Commemorate 5 Million COVID-19 Deaths, Share Vaccines Equitably: PHR

In response to the world reaching five million confirmed COVID-19 deaths, the following statement is attributable to Max Hadler, MPH, COVID-19 senior policy expert at Physicians for Human Rights:  “Nairobi, Kenya. South Carolina, USA. Ireland. Imagine the incalculable loss if the entire population of a city, state, or country of five million people perished. As we mark five million confirmed COVID-19 deaths worldwide, it’s difficult to fathom the scope of this ongoing catastrophe.  “But rather than give […]

November 1, 2021
COVID-19
Press Release

1,300+ Medical Professionals from 49 U.S. States and Territories Call on CDC to End “Junk Science” Border Expulsion Policy

1,383 medical professionals today demanded that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) end the Title 42 border expulsions order that has systematically endangered thousands of people who seek asylum in the United States. Including clinicians from 49 U.S. states and territories, as well as the District of Columbia, the doctors, nurses, and other […]

October 28, 2021
Asylum, COVID-19
Press Release

Less Talk, More Access: COVID-19 Vaccine Campaigners

In reaction to today’s global COVID-19 summit hosted by President Biden, campaigners from the People’s Vaccine Alliance caution that ambitious goals to vaccinate the world will only be met with bold action to increase manufacturing, technology transfer, and access to COVID-19 vaccines around the world, not empty promises. The Alliance, which is a coalition of […]

September 22, 2021
COVID-19
Webinar

Top Global Health Experts Preview Biden’s COVID-19 Summit, Call for Global Vaccine Equity

On Monday, September 20, 2021, PHR hosted a virtual press conference with top public health, epidemiology, and human rights experts calling on high-income countries to do much more to scale up vaccine manufacturing and equitable distribution. The event was moderated by PHR COVID-19 senior policy expert Max Hadler. Participants included: Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, President […]

September 22, 2021
COVID-19
Press Release

Vaccine Nationalism Will Prolong COVID-19 Pandemic, Top Global Health Experts Warn World Leaders Ahead of Global Summit

Ahead of a global COVID-19 summit Wednesday convened by U.S. President Joe Biden at the United Nations General Assembly, leading experts in global health, epidemiology, and COVID-19 vaccines joined a press briefing Monday hosted by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) to call on the U.S. and governments of other high-income countries to drastically ramp up […]

September 20, 2021
COVID-19
Press Release

More Than 140 Former Heads of State and Nobel Laureates call on Candidates for German Chancellor to Waive Intellectual Property Rules for COVID Vaccines 

More than 140 former heads of state and government and Nobel laureates today called on the candidates to be the next German chancellor Annalena Baerbock, Olaf Scholz, and Armin Laschet to declare themselves in favour of waiving intellectual property rules for COVID 19 vaccines and transferring vaccine technologies, and “to make these the policies of […]

September 13, 2021
COVID-19
Press Release

Biden’s New COVID-19 Plan Has “Glaring Hole,” Overlooks Global Vaccination Imperative: PHR Senior Medical Advisor

In response to new COVID-19 policies announced by President Joe Biden today, the following statement is attributable to Ranit Mishori, MD, MHS, senior medical advisor at Physicians for Human Rights and professor of family medicine at Georgetown University: “With hospitals full, staff overstretched, and the Delta variant roiling the country, the White House is right […]

September 9, 2021
COVID-19

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