Prince Harry and Meghan advocate for COVID-19 vaccine access to be treated as “basic human right”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex – Prince Harry and his wife Meghan advocated for COVID-19 vaccine access to be treated as a “basic human right”. Prince Harry, at a 24-hour event which also featured performances from musicians including BTS, Jennifer Lopez and Stevie Wonder, at Central Park’s Green Lawn in New York highlighted that the way a person is born should not dictate their ability to survive.

“Are we prepared to do what is necessary to end this pandemic?” he asked the crowd. “It is so good to be back here with you, but we know that it feels like this pandemic has been going on forever. We get it,” Meghan said. “It is a lot and some people are just over it. But if everyone’s over it, it’s never going to be over. There’s so much that we can do today, now, that can get us closer to ending this pandemic and that’s why we are all here.”

The Global Citizen Live campaign, as per its website, called on G-7 countries and the European Union to share at least 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses with those most in need around the world. The royal couple looked very sophisticated – Harry wearing a white button-up shirt with a black suit and Meghan wore a white shirt dress with embellishments designed by Valentino, with black heels and minimal jewelry.

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been speaking about vaccine equality a lot.  Last May, they were campaign chairs of “Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World”, an international COVID-19 vaccination effort organized by Global Citizen. And earlier this month, Prince Harry gave an impassioned speech at the GQ Men of the Year Awards. He pleaded with governments and pharmaceutical companies to do more to vaccinate the world. Moreover, the Sussexes also joined a WHO roundtable with world leaders and public health officials to discuss vaccine equity goals.