Olivia Rodrigo Goes to the White House to Support Vaccination
Olivia Rodrigo, the world’s current pop icon, was welcomed to the White House on Wednesday, July 14, to speak up about vaccination. President Joe Biden accompanied her to encourage the younger age demographic to get vaccinated. Since Pfizer/BioNTech has opened up their vaccines to children as young as 12, it was Rodrigo’s goal to encourage these people to receive a vaccine.
Currently, only a quarter of individuals in the 12 to 15 age range are fully vaccinated. These numbers are less than any other age group after Pfizer/BioNTech opened their vaccines to this group a little more than two months ago. Biden reassured the public that he would be amping up his efforts to get more kids between the ages of 12 and 18 fully vaccinated before the school year starts up again.
President Biden posted a photo of his younger self three days ago with the caption, “I know this young person would’ve gotten vaccinated, but we’ve got to get other young people protected as well. Who’s willing to help?” to which Rodrigo commented, “I’m in! see you tomorrow at the white house!”
At the White House press briefing, Rodrigo appeared at the podium ready to meet President Biden and chief Covid-19 medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci. Their goal was to film videos about the issue and post them onto Biden’s and Rodrigo’s social media accounts. In total, the two have over 32.6 million followers. Rodrigo’s fan base consists of mostly teenagers and young adults, making her the perfect icon to spread the vaccination message across.
Rodrigo stood in the White House briefing room and said, “I am beyond honored and humbled to be here today to help spread the message about the importance of youth vaccination. I’m in awe of the work President Biden and Dr. Fauci have done and were happy to help lend my support to this important initiative. It’s important to have conversations with friends and family members encouraging all communities to get vaccinated and actually get to a vaccination site, which you can do more easily than ever before, given how many sites we have and how easy it is to find them at vaccines.gov.”
After the conference, Rodrigo said that she could later “record videos about the importance of young people getting vaccinated, including answering important questions young people have about getting vaccinated.” The White House press secretary said that Rodrigo offered her own time to come and speak about this issue.
She also added that “We need to reach people, meet people where they are and speaking to young people — people who are under the age of 18, many of whom as we’ve seen across the country are huge Olivia Rodrigo fans — hearing from her that … getting vaccinated is a way to keep yourself safe, a way to ensure you can see your friends, a way you can ensure you can go to concerts, a way you can ensure that you can live a healthy life is an important part of what we’re trying to do here.”
After Rodrigo came back from the White House, she posted a photo with President Biden on her Instagram, captioned, “had the absolute honor of visiting the White House today and chatting with @potus about the importance of getting vaccinated! even if you are young and not immunocompromised, getting your covid vaccination is the best thing you can do for your health and your loved ones’ health.
“YOU have the power to save lives. Check out vaccines.gov to learn more about vaccinations and to find a vaccination center near you (it’s free and super easy.) thank you to everyone who has done their part in helping end this pandemic, and thank you to President Biden, Vice President Harris, Dr. Fauci, and everyone at the White House for having me. EVERYONE GET VAXED; IT’S SO IMPORTANT.”
This press briefing will hopefully encourage Rodrigo’s younger audience to get vaccinated.
Columnist | K-pop Stan | Tweet me @senaho5
