First Lady travels to Georgia, Florida to promote COVID-19 vaccine
The First Lady is traveling to Georgia and Florida to promote the Biden administration’s strategy to fight COVID-19 as concerns grow about the delta variant.
WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - First Lady Jill Biden is scheduled to spend the day in Savannah to highlight COVID-19 vaccination efforts. The visit comes as officials grow concerned about the spread of the delta variant.
“Now we need to go to community by community, neighborhood by neighborhood and often time door to door, literally knocking on doors to get help to the remaining people protected from the virus,” President Biden said about the effort.
The CDC predicts the more transmissible delta strain will soon account for a majority of cases in the U.S. Now, the Biden administration is ramping up public awareness campaigns for vaccination: targeting young adults who are unvaccinated through TikTok influencers and promoting the accessibility of mobile health units and 24-hour pharmacies.
“90% of Americans live within five miles of a vaccine site, and we’re finding new and creative ways to reach people with the vaccine,” said Kevin Munoz, assistant press secretary at the White House.
Thursday afternoon, the First Lady will tour a vaccination site at a high school alongside the Savannah mayor and Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock. The senator’s office released a statement saying, “In order to keep our economy moving forward, we must do all our part to help Georgia and our nation overcome this pandemic. I’m looking forward to joining Dr. Biden in Savannah to share this important message with coastal Georgians.”
Once the First Lady wraps up the events in Georgia, she’ll head down to Orlando to attend the Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals and congratulate students and their families.
Georgia currently has the ninth-lowest vaccination rate in the country, according to the White House. The good news is that a number of counties are reporting zero new cases in the past two weeks.
Multimedia Journalist Natalie Grim and Photojournalist/Editor Tyler Smith contributed to this report.
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