Selena Gomez, H.E.R, Jennifer Lopez, and more are rallying behind vaccination against the coronavirus by joining forces with education and advocacy organization Global Citizen. The artists will appear during its upcoming benefit concert Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World on May 8, it was announced on Tuesday (April 13).
Hosted by Gomez, the global event’s star-studded lineup includes performances by H.E.R, Jennifer Lopez, Foo Fighters, J Balvin, Eddie Vedder, and more as it “aims to inspire vaccine confidence worldwide and help get the COVID-19 vaccines to everyone, everywhere” according to a press release. Global Citizen has held concerts to garner funds for key organizations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in the past, including the Lady Gaga-curated One World: Together At Home virtual event in April 2020.
“I’m honored to be hosting Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World,” Gomez said in a statement. “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.”
The televised special is part of Global Citizen’s campaign to support the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator initiative, which is co-led by the World Health Organization and works to provide access to COVID-19 vaccines to countries around the globe. Through the one-night event, the organization aims to inspire viewers to call upon their leaders to pledge $22.1 billion so that the program can fund 2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses, tests, and treatments for the nations that need them by the end of 2021.
The global special will air on May 8 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and CBS, and it will be livestreamed simultaneously on YouTube and iHeartMedia radio stations. Fox will air the special at 11 p.m. ET. An extended, 90-minute version of the special will air on the Global Citizen’s YouTube channel and feature additional performances and appearances by NCT 127 and popular YouTube creators including the Try Guys and Kati Morton.
