Two Belgians in line-up One World - Together At Home: Angèle and Alexander De Croo

Tomorrow Deputy Prime Minister Alexander De Croo will participate in the big online concert "One World: Together At Home" organized by superstar Lady Gaga to support the work of the World Health Organization. The minister will explain the Belgian support for the development of a vaccine against the corona virus.

Lady Gaga is organizing a bigsteu online benefit concert "One World: Together at home" this Saturday, April 18. In doing so, she wants to generate support for the Covid-19 Response Solidarity Fund of the World Health Organization (WHO).

For the line-up, Lady Gaga gathered world stars such as Paul McCartney, Elton John, Eddie Vedder, Taylor Swift, Céline Dion and Chris Martin. Two Belgians are also participating: singer Angèle and Deputy Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.

Acceleration of vaccine development

Minister De Croo will explain in a video message the Belgian support for the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). This is an international alliance of public and private partners who want to accelerate the development of a vaccine.

Alexander De Croo: “If we want to save human lives, we must also accelerate the development of vaccines. That is why international cooperation is crucial to develop a safe and effective vaccine against COVID-19 as soon as possible. CEPI's ambition is to be able to switch to clinical studies within four months. That is considerably shorter than usual. We have no time to lose”.

Belgians play an important role

According to the minister, it is no coincidence that our country has been asked to outline its efforts.

Alexander De Croo: “We are a small country, but we play an important international role in the development of new medicines and vaccines. Fellow Belgians Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and Paul Stoffels, Chief Scientific Officer of Johnson & Johnson, are two of the driving forces behind CEPI and are leading experts with worldwide reputation in their field. We can be proud of that”.

“One World: Together At Home” is an initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Global Citizen, the action platform that aims to end poverty by 2030 and mobilize funds for the Sustainable Development Goals. The concert will be streamed tomorrow from 20:00 Belgian time onwards for 6 hours on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. In the following days, dozens of TV channels worldwide will broadcast the online concert in whole or in part as well.