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Vax India Now: Fighting Against the COVID-19 Crisis in India

Celebrities Fight Against the COVID-19 Crisis in IndiaDuring April 2021, COVID-19 cases and deaths started to rise exponentially in India. There were more than 500,000 cases and 300,000 deaths. Because of the rapid increase of cases, Anuradha Palakurthi, an actress and founder of the Vax India Now organization, decided to host a virtual event to raise money to fight against the COVID-19 crisis in India.

The COVID-19 Crisis in India

In September 2020, India braced itself for the pandemic. Cases peaked at 93,000 per day, less than one-third of the daily tallies India reported in April. However, it is believed that India succeeded in achieving herd immunity due to the young population. The median age in India is 27, and only 6.4% of the population is over the age of 65. Due to this, India achieved peace for a while until the second wave hit.

After the first wave, many citizens in India stopped taking safety precautions. Children returned to school, adults returned to their jobs and large weddings and political campaigns became normal again. Because of this lack of precautions, the second wave greatly affected India. Hospitals were overwhelmed with a lack of supplies, space and staff. Moreover, due to the lack of vaccines that the government ordered, only about 4.3% of India was vaccinated. The second wave brought a new variant.

This new variant is called B.1.617, also known as “the double mutant.” The variant targets everyone, including the younger population. This has caused more traffic in hospitals and a larger gap between the number of patients and staff members. Facing panic in the country, Indian American actor Anuradha Palakurthi decided to bring people together to fight against the COVID-19 crisis in India through the power of music and donations.

Singers Supporting India through Vax India Now

Vax India Now hosted a virtual event on July 7, 2021. The purpose of the event was to raise awareness of the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination shortage in India. The live streaming event featured singers from both the U.S. and India. Celebrities like Gloria Estefan, Alan Walker, Josh Groban, Anil Kapoor, Hasan Minhaj and more signed on to attend Vax India Now and made an appearance at the event. The event shed a spotlight on the COVID-19 crisis in India and informed viewers on how they can help save lives.

The Actress Who Started it All

Anuradha Palakurthi, who started a foundation based in New England that supports the promotion of Indian culture, is the organizer of this virtual event. Palakurthi and her husband, Prasanth Palakurthi, proposed doing something truly significant on a worldwide scale to help India. Ultimately, this resulted in the creation of Vax India Now.

From there, the Palakurthis contacted the Giving Back Fund, a national nonprofit organization that encourages and funds nonprofit organizations, corporations and others who want to help the world. Marc Pollick, the founder of the Giving Back Fund, jumped at the opportunity to help fund the event. Vax India Now and the Giving Back Fund are working together to make the event possible and to tell the world about the COVID-19 crisis in India.

The website for Vax India Now offers a place to donate to support the cause. For those interested in alleviating the COVID-19 crisis in India, the websites of organizations like Care India, Project HOPE and UNICEF USA offer multiple ways to get involved in the cause. Hopefully, with the efforts of India’s government, international humanitarian organizations, and Vax India Now, more of India’s population will be vaccinated soon.

– Aahana Goswami
Photo: Flickr 

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10 Famous People Who Are Actually Refugees

10 famous refugeesThe world has witnessed the severe effects of violence, poverty and injustice throughout the globe, and innocent people continue to suffer the consequences. The United States and several other countries have often offered refuge to those fleeing war and injustice. Below are 10 famous people who are actually refugees who made iconic contributions in various fields.

  1. Gloria Estefan
    Estefan is a singer, writer and actress who fled Cuba for the United States in the 1960s as a result of Castro’s communist revolution.
  2. Albert Einstein
    Einstein was a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who escaped Nazi Germany in 1938. Einstein took matters into his own hands, providing visa applications and vouching for other refugees also fleeing Nazi Germany.
  3. Madeleine Albright
    Albright fled Czechoslovakia with her family in 1938, settling in the U.K. before moving to the U.S. She became the first woman appointed to the position of U.S. Secretary of State in 1997.
  4. Alek Wek
    Wek was nine years old when she fled South Sudan for Britain with her family in the wake of a civil war. Wek was discovered by a modeling agent and rose to international fame.
  5. Elie Wiesel
    Writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor, Wiesel wrote several books about the horrors of the Holocaust. Elie and his wife, Marion, started the Elie Wiesel Foundation in remembrance of the Holocaust and to combat intolerance and injustices.
  6. Freddie Mercury
    Singer, songwriter and producer, Freddie Mercury is best known as the frontman for the rock band Queen. Born in a British Protectorate of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, now Tanzania, Mercury and his family fled during the Zanzibar Revolution in 1964, settling in the U.K.
  7. Marlene Dietrich
    Dietrich was a German-born actress and singer whose career spanned decades. She applied for U.S. citizenship after being offered an acting contract by members of the Nazi Party. Dietrich was also known for her humanitarian efforts during WWII, housing exiles and advocating for their U.S. citizenship.
  8. Wyclef Jean
    Another of these 10 famous people who are actually refugees is Wyclef Jean, Haitian rapper, musician and actor. Jean immigrated to the U.S. as a child with his family during the Duvalier regime in Haiti.
  9. Andy Garcia
    Garcia and his family fled Cuba after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion when he was five years old. He is best known for his role in The Godfather Part III, receiving a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Vincent Santino Corleone. Garcia celebrates his roots and challenges Latino stereotypes in Hollywood.
  10. Theanvy Kuoch
    Kuoch was a slave of the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979, before being found by the Red Cross. With her family, she relocated to the United Nations refugee camp and spent two years working as a nurse in various camps before moving to the U.S. In 1982, she founded Khmer Health Advocates with three American nurses to provide health services for survivors of the Cambodian genocide.

These 10 famous people who are actually refugees have paved the way for themselves and others. Refugees are simply people seeking out a better life in a new country; this is a humanitarian issue, and refugees need our help in rebuilding their lives.

– Jennifer Serrato

Photo: Pixabay