03/02/2021
On Wednesday evening (27th January), BBC-2's “NewsNight” programme looked hard at pertinent issues of Covid19, including how vaccines were being prioritised when so many BAME staff within the NHS found themselves at particular risk, and how Brexit could cost the UK dear when it came to a share of European Union purchases of vaccines. The final item discussed the similarities and differences between HIV / AIDS in the 1980's and 1990's, and Covid19, speaking with two activists within the field of HIV campaigning, one of whom was a gay man who had lived with and survived HIV for nearly forty years. The programme found that whilst well meaning, the 1987 “Don't Die of Ignorance” campaign stigmatised IV drug users and gay men, who were amongst the first casualities of the pandemic. A note of caution was struck on new hard hitting campaigns around coronavirus Covid19, with one speaker feeling that a shock advertising campaign could work at this juncture, whilst the other felt that being judgemental and stigmatising would undermine the social solidarity needed for society to fight the current pandemic. “NewsNight” is transmitted from Monday to Friday nights at 10.45pm on BBC-2.
