The telegraph

Meghan and Harry conduct the Covid fundraising concert “Vax Live”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be performing at a high profile event in Los Angeles this weekend to promote the coronavirus vaccine and encourage companies to “donate dollars for cans.” The concert with a range of celebrities and politicians, from US President Joe Biden to Jennifer Lopez, has been compared to LiveAid, the 1985 concert that raised millions for famine relief in Africa. The Sussexes were named “Campaign Chairs” by Vax Live on Tuesday, dubbed the “World Reunification Concert”. Producers include Shawn Sachs and Keleigh Thomas Morgan, two of the Duchess’ long time advisors to New York-based PR firm Sunshine Sachs. The event, due to be held on May 2nd, will be part of an effort to gain public trust and confidence to strengthen the uptake of the vaccine. Organizers urge G7 governments to share excess doses and drug companies to make vaccines available to charities. Participants will seek pledges from governments, the private sector, and philanthropists. The audience, all of whom have been vaccinated, will be made up of frontline health professionals and key workers. The concert will be broadcast on May 8th. The Duke and Duchess will deliver “an Important Global Message for Vaccine Justice” during the event at LA’s SoFi Stadium. The couple are believed to have spearheaded a private sector fundraising initiative for Covax, the global program to provide vaccines to low and middle income countries. A spokesman for the Sussexes declined to say whether they would appear in person or on screen. Meghan, 39, is about to start maternity leave and is expected to have her second child, a daughter, in early June. The couple said in a statement: “Over the past year, our world has seen pain, loss and struggle together. “Now we have to recover and heal together. We can’t leave anyone behind. We will all benefit, we will all be safer, if everyone has equal access to the vaccine, everywhere. We must strive for a fair distribution of vaccines and thereby restore confidence in our common humanity. This mission couldn’t be more critical or important. “The concert will be attended by Sussexes friend and CBS presenter Gayle King, Ben Affleck, Chrissy Teigen, David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel and Sean Penn, among others. Under the direction of Selena Gomez, there will be performances by Jennifer Lopez, Eddie Vedder and the Foo Fighters.