'Vax.India.Now' - a virtual music concert featuring Indian and international celebrities and artistes was held on 7 July, 2021. The initiative by the Anuradha Palakurthi Foundation to support India’s urgent vaccination drive saw names such as Sting, Alicia Keys, Liam Neeson, Gloria Estefan and Annie Lennox besides Indian actors like Anil Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Shabana Azmi and music composer AR Rahman make an appearance.
The one-and-half-hour concert was compered by Hasan Minhaj and the celebrities appealed to viewers to donate to support India's vaccine drive. "The second wave of COVID has consumed India, breaking the global record with more that 400,000 cases a day. Without sufficient vaccinations the virus could claim more than half a million lives in India by June," said Sting in a pre-recorded message before his act.
"When the world needs inspiration, it has so often turned to India. The culture of India is powerful and essential, and we need to save it. We need to save them. This isn't complicated, 100% of your donations will go to these mass vaccination efforts," announced Liam Neeson in his video message.
"India is on her knees now, we need to hold her hand, lift her up and help her walk again," appealed Gloria Estefan after reciting a few lines from a song she wrote.
According to the sponsors, all contributions from the charity concert will be directed to organisations operating in mostly rural India.
You can watch the entire concert below:
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