President Joe Biden on Tuesday will receive the updated COVID-19 booster on Tuesday and unveil his administration’s new efforts to encourage Americans to do the same, the White House announced.
The new bivalent vaccines target both the original coronavirus strain and the omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, which account for nearly 75% of COVID-19 cases in the United States, according to the CDC. Bivalent boosters are available for Americans five years of age and older who have completed their primary course of the vaccine series.
President Biden tested positive for COVID-19 more than three months ago, the amount of time public health experts recommend waiting before getting a booster shot. He received his second booster shot in March of this year.
After receiving his shot, the president is expected to deliver remarks about the pandemic and call on Americans to get their own boosters ahead of the winter holidays, according to a White House official.
According to the White House, over 20 million Americans have received a dose of the updated booster shot, including nearly 1 in 5 seniors. Health officials have urged Americans to bolster their protections against respiratory illnesses, amid fears of a possible winter COVID-19 surge, a potentially severe flu season and an early surge of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases, particularly in children.
“We’re seeing the rise of three viruses circulating at increasing levels: RSV, flu, influenza and COVID,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, on CNN. “The good news here is that we’re not powerless against this. For two of them, we have very high quality vaccines, both influenza and COVID. So the first and most important thing people can do is go out and get vaccinated, because that will keep people kids, adults, everybody out of the hospital at very high rates.”
According to a fact sheet released by the White House, the president will unveil new efforts aimed at getting more Americans updated COVID-19 boosters “so that they have the protection they need heading into Thanksgiving and can have a safe and healthy holiday season” – and will call on local, community, state, education and business leaders to encourage their communities to stay protected.
“While COVID-19 is not the disruptive force it was when the President took office, the virus continues to evolve,” the White House said in a release. “COVID-19, flu and other respiratory illnesses spread more quickly in the winter, as people gather indoors. As the weather gets colder, Americans must take action to stay protected.”
One such initiative is a new advertising blitz launched by the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes, per the White House:
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New national and local TV, radio and print advertisements geared at reaching Black and Latino audiences, in both English and Spanish;
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Football and country music-themed radio spots aimed at reaching rural communities;
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Print, radio, digital and social ads aimed at reaching Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander audiences, in seven languages, and;
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Ads on Reddit, Facebook, Pinterest, Snapchat and Twitter
HHS will also launch the “VaxUpAmerica Family Vaccine Tour,” where the agency will “work with national and community-based organizations and others to reach families where they are with information on COVID-19 vaccines, and will host pop-up vaccination events and distribute toolkits at venues such as Head Start provider locations, nursing homes, and community health centers around the country.”
Biden will also tout new private-sector partnerships, including an announcement that pharmacy giant Walgreens is teaming up with delivery service companies Uber and DoorDash to provide free delivery of prescriptions of Paxlovid, Pfizer’s oral antiviral COVID-19 treatment, to people living in underserved communities.
The White House’s announcement also highlighted new initiatives from major pharmacy partners to encourage Americans to get boosted, including:
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Albertsons: 10% off groceries (up to $20 off) for those who get their COVID-19 vaccine in-store;
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CVS Health: $5 off any purchase of $20, in-store or online, for customers getting an updated COVID-19 shot;
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Rite Aid: Coupons for $5 off a $25 purchase for those getting an updated COVID-19 booster (not available in New York or New Jersey), and;
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Southeastern Grocers (parent company of Harveys, Winn-Dixie and Fresco y Más supermarkets): Offers for $20 in free groceries when a customer gets an updated COVID-19 shot and a flu shot at the same time
