HIV activists have a history of outrageous energy. COVID protesters hope to match it

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Dr. KJ Seung, a professor at Harvard Medical School, speaks at a September rally outside the home of the CEO of Moderna, maker of one of the two mRNA vaccines that prevent COVID-19. The fake bones are meant to represent lives lost unnecessarily to the coronavirus. Seung was part of a group of doctors demanding Moderna share vaccines — and its recipe — with low-resource countries.

Jasper G. Goodman/The Harvard Crimson

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Jasper G. Goodman/The Harvard Crimson

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Demonstrators from the organization ACT UP, angry with the federal government’s response to the AIDS crisis, protested in front of the headquarters of the Food and Drug Administration in Rockville, Md., on Oct. 11, 1988, and effectively shut it down. By mid-morning some 50 of the protesters were arrested.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

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J. Scott Applewhite/AP

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Demonstrators for AIDS research funds marched up New York’s Madison Avenue on July 24, 1990, to protest President George Bush’s policies on the disease.

Allan Tannenbaum/Getty Images

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Allan Tannenbaum/Getty Images

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Four youths lay on the ground surrounded by crosses symbolizing victims of HIV-AIDS in a demonstration on November 26, 2001 in Cape Town, South Africa. The protest was aimed at the government’s AIDS policies, including a failure to distribute antiretroviral drugs to pregnant mothers.

Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images

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Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images

Four youths lay on the ground surrounded by crosses symbolizing victims of HIV-AIDS in a demonstration on November 26, 2001 in Cape Town, South Africa. The protest was aimed at the government’s AIDS policies, including a failure to distribute antiretroviral drugs to pregnant mothers.

Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images