White House Looks To The Stars To Get America Vaccinated

In an effort to get more Americans vaccinated, the Biden Administration is looking to celebrity influencers to persuade those holding back from getting the COVID-19 shot inoculated.

According to NBC News (via CNBC), the White House will launch a new campaign called “We Can Do This: Live” that will specifically target a younger demographic through social media, podcasts, YouTube, and virtual events with a series of celebrities and athletes.

The celebrity lineup is reported to include actress Eva Longoria, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, co-hosts of “Live With Kelly and Ryan” Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest, and well-known faces from NASCAR, the NBA, and WNBA.

As part of the campaign, the stars will answer questions that Americans may have about the COVID vaccine which may be stopping them from getting vaccinated, administration officials told NBC News.

The news of the campaign comes as President Biden reached his goal of vaccinating 200 million Americans within his first 100 days in office on Wednesday.

“Today, we hit 200 million shots on the 92nd day in office,” Biden said in a White House press briefing. “Two hundred million shots in 100 days — in under 100 days, actually. It’s an incredible achievement for the nation.”

But some Americans are still refraining from getting the shot, which could derail plans to vaccinate 70% to 85% of the U.S. population – an inoculation number that has been touted by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, needed in order for the country to get back to a pre-pandemic normal.

“At that point, the entire community could start getting back to normal, and they could be doing things that each and every person wants to do, maybe not 100% back to normal, but at least approaching normal,” Fauci told CNN back in February.

As of Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that over 87.5 million people have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, accounting for 26.4% of the population. Over 134.4 million people have received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine, the CDC’s website said.