Ambassador Michael McCarthy and Sandra McCarthy visited the West Point township to view a new mural by Monrovian artist Patrick Gono and his team. The mural shows our shared fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and how to prevent a resurgence of it in Liberia.
Gono received a grant from the U.S. Embassy public affairs section to paint four murals depicting how to prevent the spread of and protect yourself against the COVID-19 virus. The most important preventative measures you can take is to get vaccinated and wear a mask when with a large group of people indoors. Social distancing, washing your hands regularly, and communicating by phone or internet, if possible, are also effective ways of stopping the spread of COVID-19.
The United States stands with the people of Liberia as we work together to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. We have already provided more than 302,000 vaccines, along with research and program support and expert advisors. Moving past the immediate crisis, we will continue to identify avenues for support to build back better together.
Patrick Gono is a talented artist who embodies the shared U.S.-Liberia relationship. In 2019, he was an artist-in-residence in Dayton, Ohio. Dayton and Monrovia are sister cities, and Gono was the first of a city-to-city exchange program. His art was displayed around the midwestern U.S. city, and he even designed the U.S. Embassy holiday card that year!
Ambassador McCarthy spoke with West Point Commissioner Williams Wiah and reporters while visiting the new mural, noting that vaccinations are the best way to prevent another surge of COVID-19 in Liberia: “We need to be prepared for the next wave or variant of the virus. Remember that cases were very low before the resurgence we experienced in June and July. We want to make sure that does not happen again, and the most important thing Liberians can do to achieve that is to get vaccinated as soon as possible.” He also remarked about the safety of the Johnson & Johnson vaccines currently being administered by the Ministry of Health, “The J&J vaccine is very safe. More than 216 million Americans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, including myself and the entire staff at the U.S. Embassy. That is more than 75% of Americans over the age of 12 years old. More than 15 million of those Americans received the J&J vaccine.”
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Source: APO and U.S. Embassy in Liberia