Protest in Berlin Marks Five Years of Long Covid with Urgent Call for Action

Berlin, March 15, 2025 – Today, Berlin Buyers Club organised a powerful demonstration at Mauerpark to mark International Long Covid Awareness Day. The protest was part of a broader decentralised campaign, allowing people across Europe to participate from wherever they were—whether outside their homes or from their beds—by sharing photos on social media. To make the message more accessible, Berlin Buyers Club translated protest materials into 13 languages, ensuring people from all backgrounds could engage.

Held at the Amphitheater in Mauerpark, the protest drew a large crowd, filling the terraces with supporters. The goal was clear: to reflect on five years of Long COVID and the ongoing failure of political leaders to address this health crisis. Berlin Buyers Club’s founder, Sophie Dimitriou reviewed the trajectory of the pandemic, highlighting how the crisis has deepened each year while political responses have only grown more inadequate. Stories from those affected were read aloud, painting a stark picture of neglect and suffering.

In 2020, the Year of Denial, health agencies focused solely on hospitalisations and deaths, leaving Long COVID sufferers without recognition, tracking, or support. Doctors dismissed many, passed between specialists with no answers, no treatments, and often, no belief that their condition was real. “Patients were passed between doctors with no answers, no treatments, and often, no belief that Long COVID was real.”

By 2021, A Name Without Action, post-COVID clinics were introduced, but waiting lists stretched for months or even years. Doctors often refused care unless conventional lab tests showed abnormalities, and insurance companies denied coverage, claiming there was no proof Long COVID existed. The reality was devastating for early sufferers. “When I crashed for the first time, I had to learn the hard way that help was probably not on the horizon.”

2022 marked The Cover-Up Begins, as the world declared the pandemic “over” while those suffering from Long COVID found themselves increasingly abandoned. People barely able to manage daily tasks were forced back into work, school, and public spaces with zero protections. Meanwhile, governments actively downplayed the crisis. “I caught COVID in 2022—during a time of so-called low incidence. And yet, I still got sick. I still became disabled.”

By 2023, The Hidden Epidemic was undeniable. The WHO estimated that over 400 million people worldwide suffered from Long COVID. Yet, governments largely ignored the issue, refusing to acknowledge the extent of the crisis. The stories from young people were particularly heartbreaking. “Imagine you’re finally back on a school trip after three years of pandemic. One of your classmates has COVID, and half the class catches it. Everyone comes back to school after two weeks—except you.”

In 2024, The Loss of Possibilities became a devastating reality for many. Long COVID was no longer just about symptoms but about lost futures, careers, and independence. “I went for long walks until they became shorter and shorter. I rode my bike until I could no longer climb stairs, and I went shopping until I could no longer leave my apartment.”

Closing the protest, Dimitriou reminded the crowd of a sobering truth: as long as COVID exists, Long COVID will continue to shatter lives until meaningful change happens. She also noted that even this very morning, the organisers received new stories from people developing Long Covid in 2024—many of them young—proving that the claim that ‘Covid is over’ is a dangerous lie.

Berlin Buyers Club and its volunteers remain committed to fighting for recognition, research, treatments and protections for those affected.