Olivia Rodrigo Meets President Joe Biden

WASHINGTON — Teen pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo will visit the White House Wednesday as part of the administration’s effort to promote vaccinations to young Americans.

According to a White House official, the 18-year-old former Disney Channel star will meet with President Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci to film videos stressing why it's important for young people to be vaccinated, incorporating a question-and-answer format.

Rodrigo, known for her meteoric rise on the teen pop scene with music detailing heartbreak and empowerment, boasts an expansive following, particularly with members of Gen Z. The videos will be featured on her social platforms, which are followed by over 28 million people, as well as the various White House social media channels.



Health officials have increasingly focused on vaccine-hesitant younger Americans, who do not face as much danger from severe symptoms of COVID-19 as older people but are critical to the goal of achieving herd immunity. This is especially true in the face of the highly contagious Delta variant, which is devastating less vaccinated communities in the U.S.

Recent NBCLX/Morning Consult polling found that adults between 18 and 34 are the “most likely generation to say they will either not get vaccinated (23%) or don’t yet know (21%), with Gen Z adults (18-23) particularly disinterested.”





As key pockets of Americans continue to decline available vaccination, the Biden administration will have increasing difficulty hitting herd immunity benchmarks, further delaying its goal of getting the country back to a pre-pandemic normal.

The White House has amassed an all-hands-on-deck strategy to reverse course. The administration previously partnered with popular YouTubers from both the outdoor and makeup communities to get out the word about vaccines to Gen Z. It also partnered with the dating app Bumble to add a feature that allows users to identify their vaccination status.

“I think it’s an obligation, an obligation to make sure that even if it’s an even small percentage possibility that you could be a carrier and spread the disease, that you have an obligation,” Biden told one YouTube creator during his series of interviews in the spring, adding that Gen Z is “the most generous, the most informed, the most caring generation coming up.”

Pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo visited the White House on Wednesday to meet with President Joe Biden and his chief Covid-19 medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, to record videos to encourage young people to get vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.

"I am beyond honored and humbled to be here today to help spread the message about the importance of youth vaccination," Rodrigo said from the White House press briefing room podium. Youth vaccination rates continue to lag significantly behind the general American population.

Rodrigo continued: "I'm in awe of the work President Biden and Dr. Fauci have done and was 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."



The videos will be featured on the 18-year-old's social media channels as well as the White House's accounts. Rodrigo is the singer of hits "Drivers License," and "good 4 u," and has more than 28 million followers across her channels.

Rodrigo will "record videos about the importance of young people getting vaccinated, including answering important questions young people have about getting vaccinated," a White House official told CNN.



"Hey, I'm Olivia Rodrigo and today I'm at the White House meeting with President Biden and Dr. Fauci because it's so important that we all get vaccinated," Rodrigo said in one video posted after her briefing room appearance. "It doesn't matter if you're young and healthy, getting the vaccine is about protecting yourself, your friends and your family. Let's get vaccinated!"
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday that Rodrigo offered to come to the White House.

"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," Psaki told reporters at a White House briefing.

Psaki added: "I will say, not every 18-year-old uses their time to come do this so we appreciate her willingness to."

The visit comes as the White House ramps up its efforts to get young people vaccinated against Covid-19, particularly as the highly transmissible Delta variant spreads across the nation. The Delta variant now comprises more than half of the cases in the United States and is spreading in areas with low vaccination rates.

Rodrigo's visit to the White House was first announced on Instagram. Biden's account posted a photo of the President's younger self and wrote in 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?"

Rodrigo commented, "i'm in! see you tomorrow at the white house!"