Prince Harry calls for Covid support to India US HOSTS VAX LIVE CONCERT FEATURING BACHCHAN, POPE AND BIDEN
PRINCE HARRY voiced support for India during its devastating Covid outbreak at a star-studded concert in Los Angeles last Sunday (2), urging for faster and more global vaccinations.
Vax Live: The Concert To Reunite The World featured video messages from the Pope and president Joe Biden and in-person appearances from Hollywood stars such as Ben Affleck and Sean Penn.
Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, French president Emmanuel Macron and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau sent video messages. The show will air on television and YouTube on May 8, after being pre-taped in front of thousands of fully vaccinated spectators at a vast California stadium last Sunday.
“Tonight, we stand in solidarity with the millions of families across India, who are battling a devastating second wave,” said Prince Harry.
“The virus does not respect borders, and access to the vaccine cannot be determined by geography,” said Harry, making his first in-person appearance at a major public event in California since moving last year to the United States with wife Meghan Markle, who did not appear.
He added: “‘None of us should be comfortable thinking that we could be fine when so many others are suffering. In reality, and especially with this pandemic, when any suffer, we all suffer. We must look beyond ourselves with empathy and compassion for those we know, and those we don’t.”
The concert, organised by Global Citizen, an international advocacy organisation, aims to battle vaccine disinformation while calling on world leaders and corporations to take action and make donations.
Thousands of spectators gathered inside Los Angeles’ giant, recently completed SoFi stadium for the first time. Most attendees were frontline medical workers, many dressed in nurse and doctor uniforms.
In pre-taped messages, Biden said that he was “working with leaders around the world to share more vaccines and boost production” while Pope Francis said: “I beg you not to forget the most vulnerable.”
Singer Selena Gomez hosted proceedings, calling for “doses and dollars” to go to the world’s poorest countries even as California and parts of the West emerge from lengthy lockdowns thanks to massive inoculation progress.
A glittering JLo told fans she had been forced to spend Christmas without her mother for the first time due to the pandemic. The Foo Fighters were joined by surprise guest Brian Johnson of AC/DC for a rendition of
Back in Black.
“We ain’t out of the woods yet... let’s work as hard as we can to make sure we can do this every night” said frontman Dave Grohl. Organisers said the event had surpassed its fundraising goal needed to purchase 10 million vaccine doses for low and middle-income countries, drawing more than $53 million (£38m) in donations from corporations and philanthropists.
Prince Harry, who took to the large circular stage in the middle of the arena dressed casually in a blue shirt, described online disinformation about vaccines as a “humanitarian crisis” that is “getting worse.” The concert will stream on YouTube along with American television networks ABC and CBS on Saturday (8) at 8:00 pm ET (midnight GMT). It will also air internationally on Brazil’s Globo, Colombia’s Caracol, SABC in South Africa and MultiChoice in Africa. (With agencies)