'Vax Live': Jennifer Lopez, Selena Gomez and Foo Fighters to star in concert raising funds for Covid-19 vaccines

Singers Jennifer Lopez and HER will star in a new multi-artist concert to raise money for Covid-19 vaccines.

Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World will be streamed across the world, as well as broadcast on limited TV networks, on May 8.

It follows in the footsteps of last year's One World: Together at Home fundraiser, in which locked-down stars including Lady Gaga performed from their homes.

Vax Live will be hosted by singer Selena Gomez and also feature the Foo Fighters, J Balvin and Eddie Vedder, according to organiser Global Citizen, an international advocacy group.

"This is really an opportunity to call on world leaders to make sure that the 27 million heroic healthcare workers around the world that don't yet have access to a vaccine can get access over the coming months," said Global Citizen chief executive Hugh Evans.

The concert will air on TV channels ABC, CBS and Fox, as well as on iHeartMedia radio stations and YouTube.

"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," Gomez said. "I can't wait to be a part of it."

The event will also campaign for fair and equal access to vaccines for all, urging nations to donate excess doses and give financial support to the Covax facility, backed by the World Health Organisation and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation.

Selena Gomez will host the fund-raising concert, which aims to help medical workers in the world’s poorest countries quickly receive Covid-19 vaccines. AP

Covax aims to secure two billion vaccine doses for lower-income countries by the end of 2021.

"The great news is there have already been many nations around the world that are starting to donate doses," Evans said. "Australia, for example, donated a million doses to Papua New Guinea. We know the Norwegian government decided to make a donation of doses.

"There's really great momentum that is building," he added.

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Fixtures

Wednesday

4.15pm: Japan v Spain (Group A)

5.30pm: UAE v Italy (Group A)

6.45pm: Russia v Mexico (Group B)

8pm: Iran v Egypt (Group B)

if you go

The flights
Fly direct to Kutaisi with Flydubai from Dh925 return, including taxes. The flight takes 3.5 hours. From there, Svaneti is a four-hour drive. The driving time from Tbilisi is eight hours.
The trip
The cost of the Svaneti trip is US$2,000 (Dh7,345) for 10 days, including food, guiding, accommodation and transfers from and to Tbilisi or Kutaisi. This summer the TCT is also offering a 5-day hike in Armenia for $1,200 (Dh4,407) per person. For further information, visit www.transcaucasiantrail.org/en/hike/

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Essentials

The flights
Whether you trek after mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda or the Congo, the most convenient international airport is in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali. There are direct flights from Dubai a couple of days a week with RwandAir. Otherwise, an indirect route is available via Nairobi with Kenya Airways. Flydubai flies to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, via Entebbe in Uganda. Expect to pay from US$350 (Dh1,286) return, including taxes.
The tours
Superb ape-watching tours that take in all three gorilla countries mentioned above are run by Natural World Safaris. In September, the company will be operating a unique Ugandan ape safari guided by well-known primatologist Ben Garrod.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, local operator Kivu Travel can organise pretty much any kind of safari throughout the Virunga National Park and elsewhere in eastern Congo.