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15th Jan 2021

Multiple concerts to be planned across EU to mark end of Covid this summer

Jade Hayden

The move has been backed by EU art ministers.

Multiple large-scale concerts are in motion for this summer to mark the expected end of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Proposed by Minister for Arts Catherine Martin, the events are expected to take place across EU member states during the summer months and will feature performances from some of the world’s biggest artists.

According to the Irish Mirror, Minister Martin presented the idea to her fellow European Union arts ministers this week. She is said to have received a “warm reception” following her suggestion.

It is not yet known what the format of the concerts will be and whether they will be in aid of those worst affected by the pandemic, or simply a string of events to mark the end of the outbreak in Europe.

With vaccination roll outs well under way across EU member states and the UK, it’s looking like the majority of people who want the vaccine will have received it by late summer or early autumn.

Currently, most countries are operating under strict lockdowns as cases continued to rise over the Christmas break. But there is light at the end of the tunnel as the EU’s most vulnerable members of society and frontline workers were among the first to receive the jab last month.

Elsewhere, it is feared that the poorest countries in the world will receive little to no access to the vaccine in 2021.

According to the BMJ, at least 90% of people in 67 low income countries “stand little chance of getting vaccinated against Covid-19 in 2021 because wealthy nations have reserved more than they need.”

They have said that wealthy counties, containing 14% of the world’s population, have bought up 53% of the eight most promising vaccines, including all of the Moderna vaccine doses expected to be produced over the next year and 96% of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses.

“The current system—where pharmaceutical corporations use government funding for research, retain exclusive rights, and keep their technology secret to boost profits—could cost many lives,” reads the report.

Topics:

covid,news