International COVID-19 Blood Cancer Coalition (ICBCC)

A multi-stakeholder coalition consisting of representatives from the global patient advocacy and clinical community has formed the International COVID-19 Blood Cancer Coalition (ICBCC) to address the specific impact of the pandemic on immunocompromised blood cancer patients (both acute and chronic), like those living with acute leukemia and to recommend solutions and actions to mitigate those risks. 

The coalition calls on researchers and policy makers to make vaccines available to everyone, prioritize research and equitable access to testing and protective antibody treatments to the vulnerable, and maintaining masking and social distancing in high-risk circumstances. 

Our colleagues from CLL Advocates Network (CLLAN) are leading the secretariat on behalf of the coalition.

Statement

The coalition has prepared a Joint Patient Impact Statement for use in different countries to aid when advocating for the provision of anti-COVID-19 treatment and care for immunocompromised or immunosuppressed (IC/IS) blood cancer patients.

The Statement has by now been endorsed by 73 networks and national organisations of the global patient advocacy community as well as 16 renowned medical societies and representatives from the global clinical community.

List of endorsers: Endorsers

Global campaign

Also, ICBCC´s global campaign toolkit is available for download to help raise awareness of the vulnerability and needs of the immunocompromised blood cancer community around COVID-19 prevention and treatment. The toolkit consists of:

• Three different flyers addressing
  • • policy makers
    • researchers
    • the general public
• A campaign letter template
• A social media package including social media posts & visuals and a Social Media Publishing Calendar for launch in the week of 20-24 June 2022

Campaign materials: https://www.icbcc.info/campaign-materials/

It would be great if you shared the campaign’s social media posts using #ICBCC and #considerthecompromised

Interim report

This interim report described in detail the rationale behind the ICBCC Campaign, what specific and concrete actions can and need to be undertaken to protect the lives of immunocompromised people and what has been achieved so far. The report can be found here: https://www.icbcc.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-10-17-ICBCC-Campaign-2022_Interim-Report.pdf

For more information on the coalition, visit ICBCC website : https://www.icbcc.info/