President Joe Biden is embarking on a five-point approach aimed at encouraging Americans to get their coronavirus shots as rates of vaccinations have fallen around the US and a new variant of Covid-19 threatens to cause new outbreaks.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Tuesday that a door-to-door canvassing effort begun during the White House’s “Month of Action” in June would be part of the new effort to surge vaccination rates in states where the numbers of Covid-19 vaccinations are lowest.
Ms Psaki said that the campaign would include “targeted, community-by-community, door-to-door outreach to get remaining Americans vaccinated by ensuring they have the information they need about both how safe and accessible the vaccine is”.
The effort involves the Department of Health and Human Services’ existing Covid-19 Community Corps programme, which provides educational materials to Americans with the aims of recipients encouraging their friends and families to get the vaccine.
A White House spokesperson confirmed to The Independent that the canvassing efforts involve “one on one conversations about the importance of vaccination and encouraging those who are already vaccinated to talk to their friends and family about making the same decision.”
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“Using CDC data, we targeted areas with low vaccination rates and large ‘movable’ populations, and knocked on every door there,” added a White House official. “ We saw movement in states where we deployed this tactic, including in Alabama, Florida, Texas and Georgia which had vaccination rates above the national average in the month of June. We plan to continue this work moving forward in the months ahead.”
The Community Corps programme has already partnered with a number of national organisations including the MLB, NFL, and rural-focused groups like the National 4-H Council.
Mr Biden’s announcement of a resurgent effort to get Americans their jabs comes as the administration is facing a wildly disproportionate rollout of the vaccine across America, largely attributed in recent weeks to hesitancy among some communities towards being vaccinated.
Some states are seeing as many as seven in 10 eligible adults receiving their first dose, while that number is as low as 34 per cent in states like Mississippi.
Ms Psaki reiterated during Tuesday’s press conference that the White House was doing more to make vaccines more accessible through primary care providers and other avenues, while adding that more national restrictions would likely not be necessary due to some states reaching high levels of vaccinated residents.