Olivia Rodrigo visits the White House to promote COVID-19 vaccinations among teenagers

• Olivia Rodrigo visited the White House to meet with President Biden and Dr. Meeting Fauci to Vaccinate Younger Americans.
• Rodrigo spoke at a press conference at the White House on Wednesday and expressed his excitement about the vaccination surge.
• Biden is pushing to vaccinate more Americans, with vaccination rates having stalled in recent weeks.
• Sign up for 10 Things in Politics’ daily newsletter.

Loading Something is loading.

Pop star Olivia Rodrigo visited the White House on Wednesday to meet with President Joe Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, to urge younger Americans to get vaccinations to fight COVID-19.

Rodrigo, who will be recording videos to promote the vaccine, from the podium in the White House press conference room expressed his excitement about the possibility of reaching a younger audience.

“I am extremely honored and humble to be here today to get the message across about the importance of vaccination for young people,” she said. “I am impressed with the work President Biden and Dr. Fauci have done and have been happy to support this important initiative.”

She added, “It is important to have conversations with friends and family members to encourage all communities to get vaccinated and actually get to a vaccination site, which you can do easier than ever when you consider how many Web sites we have and how easy it is to find them at vaccines.gov. “

—DJ Judd (@DJJudd) July 14, 2021

Rodrigo’s visit is intended to serve as a bridge to Generation Z, or the generation broadly believed to be the estimated 72 million Americans born between 1997 and 2012.

Once the videos are ready, they will be featured on the actress and singer’s social media channels, as well as on the White House social accounts.

Continue reading: The Democrats are preparing $ 3.5 trillion in spending. Meet 13 experts who will decide who will get the money.

Rodrigo, whose home convention district in Southern California could potentially be redistributed, released her critically acclaimed debut album “Sour” in May, which hit hit singles “Drivers License,” “Deja Vu” and “good.” spawned 4 u. “

She is also known for her roles as Nina “Nini” Salazar-Roberts in the Disney + series “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” and as Paige Olvera in the Disney Channel series “Bizaardvark”.

—Jan Wolfe (@JanNWolfe) July 14, 2021

Rodrigo currently has over 14 million followers on Instagram and around 9.4 million fans on TikTok, in addition to 1.3 million Twitter followers and over 6 million YouTube subscribers.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki was delighted with Rodrigo’s visit, noting that the star himself had offered to come to Washington, DC.

“We need to reach people, meet people where they are, and talk to young people – people under the age of 18, many of whom, as we’ve seen across the country, are big Olivia Rodrigo fans – to hear from her that. . Getting vaccinated is a way to protect yourself, a way to make sure you can see your friends, a way to go to concerts, a way to make sure you can lead a healthy life, is an important part of what We’re trying here, “said Psaki.

She added, “I’ll say not every 18 year old uses their time to do this so we appreciate their willingness.”

Rodrigo’s trip to the White House was first announced on Instagram Tuesday after Biden posted an old photo of himself on the social media platform.

“I know this young person would get vaccinated, but we also need to protect other young people,” the president wrote in the caption. “Who is ready to help?”

Rodrigo replied: “I’ll be there! See you tomorrow in the White House!”

“You can bet on it!” Biden replied.

This visit comes as the president redoubled efforts to vaccinate more Americans, but especially younger Americans, as the highly contagious Delta variant continues to spread across the country.

CNN reported Wednesday that the White House is considering additional ways to address vaccination-related disinformation, which has caused many vulnerable populations to hesitate.

According to the latest data from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about a quarter of children ages 12-15 are fully vaccinated, the lowest of all eligible age groups.

According to CDC data, around 159.7 million American adults were fully vaccinated by Wednesday, representing 48.1% of the total population.