Selena Gomez to host Global Citizen's 'VAX Live' concert to encourage 'vaccine confidence'

There can absolutely be a concert for everything, and the COVID pandemic continues to bring together big names for good causes. This time, it's for Global Citizen's VAX Live: The Concert to Reunite the World, which will spread "vaccine confidence" and be hosted by Selena Gomez.

It will include a variety of performances, from Jennifer Lopez, H.E.R., J Balvin, Eddie Vedder and the Foo Fighters, which marks one of the first big in-person musical events since the pandemic began and touring artists hit pause.

In a statement, Gomez said, "I'm honoured to be hosting VAX LIVE: The Concert to Reunite the World. 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 goal of the concert is to encourage the world to get vaccinated and to bring access to vaccines everywhere.

With that in mind, Global Citizen will be asking philanthropists and corporations – a.k.a. the richies – to donate "dollars-for-doses" so that health workers everywhere can get jabbed. It will also be making a plea to governments to pledge $22.1 billion in order to get 2 billion vaccine doses, tests and treatments to the world's poorest countries by the end of 2021.

"As a global community, we are in a race against time and the key to coming back together is the vaccine. We need to build vaccine confidence in the U.S. and globally, and encourage people to take the vaccine as quickly as possible," Global Citizen co-founder and CEO Hugh Evans said in a statement.

"There is a light at the end of this tunnel, but getting vaccines to everyone, everywhere regardless of who they are or where they are from, is key to ensuring the end of this pandemic around the world. We must all unite to get back on track to eradicating extreme poverty."

The show will be pre-taped at Los Angeles' SoFi stadium, which has actually been a vaccination site. In order to orchestrate this, Global Citizen has the support of the state of California, the L.A. County Health Department, the City of Los Angeles, the City of Inglewood and E. Stanley Kroenke, SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park Developer and the Los Angeles Rams' owner and chairman.

We can also thank Global Citizen for last year's One World: Together At Home quarantine fundraiser, which raised a total of $127.9 million, providing $55.1 million to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund and $72.8 million to local and regional responders. Which means VAX Live is sure to be promising.

VAX Live will air on Saturday, May 8 on ABC and CBS, and will be streamed via YouTube on the Global Citizen channel.

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