'VAX LIVE: The Concert To Reunite The World': How to donate vaccines and PPE kits ahead of mega concert
Global Citizen’s pre-recorded 'Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World' is aiming to raise $22.1B from governments, businesses and philanthropists. The concert will be broadcasted on Sunday, May 8.
Global Citizen is an international advocacy group working towards ending global poverty. The benefit concert will feature some of the biggest names in the music industry, in the hope of raising money for vaccine distribution. The group is also seeking help from pharmaceutical companies such as Moderna, to make more Covid-19 vaccines available at a not-for-profit price. The star-studded concert was recorded on May 2, 2021, and was hosted by Selena Gomez and chaired by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. It was attended by thousands of frontline workers, all of whom had been fully vaccinated.
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Addressing thousands of fully vaccinated guests at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, Prince Harry praised the efforts of front-line workers during the pandemic. "Tonight is a celebration of each of you here, the vaccinated frontline workers in the audience and the millions of frontline heroes around the world," he said. "You spent the last year battling courageously and selflessly to protect us all. You served and sacrificed, put yourselves in harm's way, and acted with bravery, knowing the costs. We owe you an incredible debt of gratitude. Thank you." US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden also appeared at the concert in a pre-recorded video.
How to donate to VAX Live Concert?
The event raised $53.8M (£38.8M) for Covax, which is working to provide vaccines for low and middle-income countries. Global Citizens said it was enough to help purchase almost 10.3M vaccine doses. Ahead of the event airing, you can donate to the cause in several ways. Global Citizen is taking donations directly through their website, where users can either make a one-time donation or set up a monthly debit for the same.
You can also make a donation to COVAX through Gavi, which is helping people from 92 lower-income economies. Acquiring and distributing vaccines under COVAX is being managed by UNICEF. On its donation page, the organization says $43.11 could provide a full kit of PPE for a health worker, while $62.57 could transport 1,593 doses of vaccines. The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine has launched a separate initiative called #BumpItForward, which asks those who have been vaccinated to gift the equivalent cost of a vaccine, $34.76, to a frontline worker in Africa.