Meghan Markle, Prince Harry Speak Out on Vaccine Equity: 'We Need to Recover'

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Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are working on a new vaccine equity project.

Earlier this week, international advocacy group Global Citizen announced that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be campaign chairs for the event Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World.

"We must pursue equitable vaccine distribution, and in that, restore faith in our common humanity."

Slated for May 8, the concert will be "calling on businesses to donate dollars for doses, G7 governments to share excess doses immediately, and for pharma companies including Moderna to make vaccines available at not-for-profit prices," says a press release for the event.

“Over the past year, our world has experienced pain, loss, and struggle — together,” said Meghan Markle and Prince Harry in a joint statement in the release. “Now we need to recover and heal — together. We can’t leave anybody behind. We will all benefit, we will all be safer when everyone everywhere has equal access to the vaccine. We must pursue equitable vaccine distribution, and in that, restore faith in our common humanity. This mission couldn’t be more critical or important."

Other big names at the event include Selena Gomez, who will host, Chrissy Teigen, Gayle King, and Ben Affleck. There will be performances by Jennifer Lopez, J Balvin, Foo Fighters, and H.E.R. World leaders such as President Biden, First Lady Dr. Biden, Vice President Harris, President Macron of France, Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada, and Prime Minister Plenković of Croatia will make appearances.

Vaccine equity is a major issue right now as COVID-19 and its variants continue to spread around the globe, despite mass vaccine efforts. As Scientific American said earlier this month, "It is morally reprehensible (not to mention epidemiologically self-defeating) that countries can prevent vaccines from crossing their borders and want their own citizens to be able to cross those borders and travel to countries that are denied vaccines — and then use the threat of infection to keep the people of those unvaccinated countries inside them."

"Vaccine denial creates a viral divide, with the most privileged on one side and the most vulnerable on the other," it says in the publication.