A benefit concert leveraged major star power in a Saturday broadcast to address the latest obstacles to resolving the pandemic: vaccine inequity and vaccine hesitancy.
During Global Citizen’s “Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World,” politicians, celebrities and musicians pleaded with the public to get vaccinated and discouraged world leaders from stockpiling vaccine supplies, as the world faces stark gaps in access to COVID-19 vaccines.
The event — pre-taped at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., before an in-person audience of 27,000 fully vaccinated health care and essential workers — painted a picture of what a post-pandemic world could look like if all were immunized against the coronavirus.
At the top of the show, in her first of two performances of the night, pop star Jennifer Lopez embraced her mother on stage during a rendition of “Sweet Caroline.”
“We’ve been away from our loved ones for too long, but we’re back,” Lopez said. “While it’s getting better for us, there are people all over the world — especially in Africa, India and in the Latin world — who still need our help and our vaccines.”
