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Selena Gomez hosting Global Citizen's VAX LIVE concert

Selena Gomez and Jennifer Lopez are joining forces for a new Global Citizen concert to highlight the need for the Covid-19 vaccine in the world's poorest countries.

The Come and Get It hitmaker will host VAX LIVE: The Concert to Reunite the World, with J.Lo headlining the event, alongside performances from the Foo Fighters, Eddie Vedder, J Balvin, and H.E.R.

Organisers are aiming to secure $22.1 billion in pledges from world leaders, government officials, corporation bosses, and philanthropists in order to get "two billion Covid-19 vaccine doses, tests and treatments to the world's poorest countries by the end of 2021", with a focus on inoculating medical workers first.

In a statement, Global Citizen co-founder and CEO Hugh Evans says: "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.

"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."

Speaking about her role in the event, Gomez expressed: "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 show will be pre-recorded at Los Angeles' SoFi Stadium, and will air on U.S. TV on 8 May.