Olivia Rodrigo Visits the White House to Promote Youth Vaccinations

Pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo is taking one big step forward by making a surprise appearance at the White House today as a part of President Biden’s initiative to get younger generations vaccinated.

With over half of the current COVID-19 cases in the U.S. containing the highly transmissible Delta variant, especially rampant among areas with low vaccination rates, the “Driver’s License” singer offered to come to the White House herself to encourage young people to get the vaccine. According to White House officials, the U.S. did not reach Biden’s goal to get 70 percent of Americans vaccinated with at least one dose. The slower vaccine rates remain among Americans ages 18 to 27, since the symptoms for this group are less severe, making her fanbase a prime target for this message.

At the White House, Rodrigo is recording videos with President Biden and Dr. Fauci, highlighting the importance of getting vaccinated in addition to having questions about the vaccine answered to be seen by her over 14 million Instagram followers, as well as on the Biden and the White House’s social media.

“I am beyond honored and humbled to be here today to help spread the message about the importance of youth vaccination,” she said at the White House press briefing. “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." 

Although her visit is a surprise, President Biden and Rodrigo teased the event on Instagram last night. Biden’s account posted a photo of a younger version of himself 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?” Rodrigo responded in the comments: “i'm in! see you tomorrow at the white house!”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki was particularly appreciative that Rodrigo wants to help.

“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,” she said at the briefing. “I will say, not every 18-year-old uses their time to come do this so we appreciate her willingness to.”