President Joe Biden and other White House officials on Tuesday said the federal government will start targeted community door-to-door outreach in an effort to boost COVID-19 vaccination rates.
Because millions of Americans are unvaccinated and due to the so-called “Delta” COVID-19 variant that’s spreading, Biden said that his administration will attempt to ramp up vaccination efforts.
“Do it now,” said Biden during a White House press conference, referring to getting vaccinated.
The president said that people will be “knocking on doors” to get “help to the remaining people” who aren’t vaccinated. It’s part of a community outreach program, he said, that is being set up as mass vaccination sites are being phased out.
Biden also spoke about how his administration plans to make the vaccine available in more healthcare settings.
Those initiatives include providing more assistance to thousands of pharmacies, doctor’s offices, and other medical facilities so they can distribute vaccines, Biden said. Vaccines will also be doled out at sporting events, summer events, and religious activities, he added.
“We’re intensifying efforts to meet people out where they are,” the president said.
Younger Americans, Biden added, seem particularly reluctant to get the vaccine. The president argued they’re more at risk of contracting the Delta variant and that the strain is responsible for most new COVID-19 cases.
“Seems to me, it should cause everyone to think twice,” Biden said.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the administration’s efforts will include “targeted by community door-to-door outreach to get remaining Americans vaccinated.” It’s not clear how the administration plans to accomplish this, and neither she nor Biden provided any more details.
The administration will first target communities with lower vaccination rates, she added. The door-to-door outreach efforts will get information about vaccines to people who haven’t received them yet.
The plan is part of the government’s COVID-19 response after the White House fell shy of its self-imposed July 4 deadline to get 70 percent of American adults at least one vaccination shot. According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 67 percent of American adults have received at least one shot and more than 157 million are fully vaccinated.
“You don’t just give up just because you haven’t reached every single person,” Psaki told reporters. “We’re going to continue to apply where we, what we’ve seen have been the best practices over the past several months.”
The teams deployed by the White House will be composed of officials from the CDC, the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), and other federal health agencies, Biden said.
It comes as CDC Director Rochelle Walensky last week said there are still around 1,000 counties in the United States that have less than 30 percent vaccination coverage. They’re mainly located in the Southeast and Midwest regions, she added.
The Delta variant has now been found in every U.S. state, health officials previously said.
The Epoch Times has contacted the White House for comment on the outreach program.
