The upcoming “Vax Live” concert just got a booster shot of star power.
Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have been added to the list of high-profile participants in the event dedicated to combating COVID-19, organizers announced Tuesday.
“Vax Live,” set to air May 8 on numerous networks, is being led by the Global Citizen organization and aims to promote confidence in coronavirus vaccines and raise money for equitable distribution of the vaccinations.
In their newly announced roles as campaign chairs for the event, Harry and Meghan are working to raise money for the World Health Organization’s COVAX initiative, which strives to distribute vaccines throughout the world.
Harry and Meghan will share a message at the event, which is being taped Sunday at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium and will be hosted by Selena Gomez.
“Over the past year, our world has experienced pain, loss, and struggle – together,” Harry and Meghan said in a statement.
“Now we need to recover and heal – together,” they continued. “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.”
Part of the “Vax Live” broadcast will see Biden and Harris speak about ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19 while encouraging confidence in the vaccines, organizers said Tuesday.
Global Citizen hopes to raise $19 billion during the event through contributions from different national governments. That money would allow the organization to donate “1.8 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses plus tests and treatments to the world’s poorest countries by the end of 2021,” it said in a press release.
Also participating in the “Vax Live” festivities are David Letterman, Chrissy Teigen, Gayle King, Olivia Munn, Ben Affleck, Nomzamo Mbatha, Sean Penn and Jimmy Kimmel.
Jennifer Lopez, H.E.R., the Foo Fighters, J Balvin and Eddie Vedder were previously announced as performers at the concert, which will air on CBS, ABC, ABC News Live, iHeartRadio and YouTube.
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