Olivia Rodrigo visits White House to encourage young people to get vaccinated

Music
15 Jul 21

White House officials hope that pop singer Olivia Rodrigo's 28 million total followers on her social media platforms will allow her to reach a critical young demographic in the U.S. and encourage them to get vaccinated.

Pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo visited the White House on Wednesday afternoon to meet with President Joe Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci.

The 18-year-old – who recently attained worldwide acclaim with her debut album SOUR, featuring hit singles 'drivers license,' 'good 4 u,' and 'deja vu' – met with the American president and director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases as a part of the COVID-19 vaccine outreach initiative.

"I'm beyond honored and humbled to be here to help spread the message about the importance of youth vaccination," said Rodrigo at the White House press conference. "I'm in awe of the work that President Biden and Dr. Fauci have done and was happy to help lend my support to this 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," said Rodrigo.

While at the White House, Rodrigo recorded videos for this vaccination initiative, encouraging young people to get the vaccine and answering questions related to the vaccination process. According to a White House official, the videos will appear on both Rodrigo's and the White House's social media channels.

With the rise in concern related to the spread of the new Delta variant of the coronavirus, White House officials hope that their continued efforts of encouraging young people, particularly 18-to-26-year-olds, to get vaccinated will prove effective.