Prince Harry, Meghan Markle join hands with Joe Biden to encourage people to get vaccinated
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The former royals, Bidens and US Vice President Kamala Harris will be making an appearance at the event hosted by Selena Gomez
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have taken up new job roles with US President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr Jill Biden. They are now joining hands to encourage people to get a coronavirus vaccine at Global Citizen's Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World next month.
The former royals, Bidens and US Vice President Kamala Harris will be making an appearance at the event hosted by Selena Gomez. It is said to inspire vaccine confidence worldwide and help distribute the shots to where they're needed most.
Harry and Meghan will act as VAX Live Campaign Chairs, delivering an important message about global vaccine equity.
The couple has also been organizing an initiative to raise funds amongst the private sector for the vaccine-sharing program, COVAX. In a press statement, Harry and Meghan said, “Over the past year, our world has experienced pain, loss, and struggle—together. Now we need to recover and heal—together. We can’t leave anybody behind. We will all benefit, we will all be safer, when everyone everywhere has equal access to the vaccine. We must pursue equitable vaccine distribution, and in that, restore faith in our common humanity. This mission couldn’t be more critical or important.”
During the event, Global Citizen will also be requesting philanthropists and corporations donate “dollars-for-doses” in order to vaccinate healthcare workers around the world. They're also requesting that world leaders and governments pledge $22.1 billion in order “to get two billion COVID-19 vaccine doses, tests and treatments to the world's poorest countries by the end of 2021.”
Among those attending, the other heads of state will be President Emmanuel Macron of France, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković of Croatia. There will be plenty of A-list guests present as well, with stars like Ben Affleck, Chrissy Teigen, David Letterman, Gayle King, Jimmy Kimmel, Nomzamo Mbatha, Olivia Munn and Sean Penn, in addition to performances from Jennifer Lopez, H.E.R., J Balvin, Eddie Vedder and the Foo Fighters.
In a statement, Selena Gomez said, “I'm honored to be hosting VAX LIVE: The Concert to Reunite the World. This is a historic moment to encourage people around the world to take the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available to them, call on world leaders to share vaccine doses equitably and to bring people together for a night of music in a way that hasn't felt possible in the past year. I can't wait to be a part of it.”