From the Founder: Thank You for Bringing Hope

Dr. Tom Lee receives the COVID-19 vaccine in Los Angeles. (Tom Lee)

As an ER doctor in Los Angeles, I was fortunate to receive the COVID-19 vaccine a few days ago. After more than ten months' battling the pandemic day-to-day in the ER, it was an emotional moment for my colleagues and me to begin administering these vaccines.

​It will be several months at least before the first consignments of vaccines reach Bangladesh and Myanmar (Burma) and my thoughts are with the communities there and our staff working on the front lines of COVID-19 response.

These last twelve months have been incredibly tough for us all and there will be difficult times ahead. But amidst the hardship and disruption, the pandemic has helped to clarify what really matters and revealed the profound humanity in individuals and communities throughout the world.

More than ever, I have been humbled and honored by the generosity of our supporters. Your compassion and unwavering commitment are a beacon of hope for vulnerable communities in Bangladesh and Myanmar.

With your help, we are operating an isolation and treatment center for COVID-19 patients; we are stocking hundreds of community clinics with medicines and supplying thousands of health workers with PPE; we are building handwashing stations and distributing hygiene supplies in hundreds of communities; and we are empowering hundreds of thousands of people in hard-to-reach and conflict-affected communities to safeguard themselves against COVID-19.

In 2021, we will work closely with our community partners to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine to the most vulnerable.

A health worker provides care at the CPI-supported COVID-19 Isolation and Treatment Center in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (Md. Dipu/CPI)

So, I'd like to take this opportunity to offer you my heartfelt thanks for standing with us during these turbulent times and reaching out to help people in need.

Let us look towards 2021 with renewed hope, and continue to draw upon our resilience, solidarity, and compassion to defeat COVID-19 throughout the world.

Warmest wishes for the holiday seaon and the New Year!