White House addresses disparity in vaccine distribution
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki responded to questions on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy during a press briefing on Monday.
Video transcript
- The New York Times, last week, came out with the story that Mississippi was having a hard time getting folks vaccinated. But it's not just Mississippi. It's a bunch of other rural states-- Ohio, Oklahoma, there are 34% vaccination rate, even so, opening up vaccines to out-of-staters.
I know we talked a little bit about, before, the preliminary steps. But has the White House been in touch with these governors to see what they can do now, because, of course, this impact for immunity and the goals of the White House just to get these shots in arms.
Jen Psaki: Well, there are a number of steps that we've taken in the recent weeks, including launching the community corps, which is our program to provide fact-based messages into the hands of local messengers. So we've now-- we're now working with more than 4,000 organizations, that have signed up so far, across the country, including in a number of the states that you mentioned.
We're also investing $3 billion into states and community-based organizations, to strengthen vaccine confidence in the highest risk and hardest hit communities. And often people think of that as just Black and brown communities, and that is not. As you've noted, that is also conservative communities, white evangelicals. It's a range of communities around the country.
What we've found to be most effective is to work with these local organizations, so faith-based organizations, community health organizations, civic leaders, and others, who can really get this message deeply in communities. We've also had a number of our members of our COVID team, from Dr. Fauci and Dr. Collins, participate-- as an example-- participate in a range of media interviews.
An example is, Dr. Collins participated in the 700 Club. Dr. Nunez-Smith hosted a faith leaders roundtable. We're also looking for-- we've run PSAs on The Deadliest Catch. We're engaged with NASCAR and country music TV.
We're looking for a range of creative ways to get directly connected to white conservative communities. We won't always be the best messengers, but we're still trying to meet people where they are but also empower local organizations.
- And just a quick follow-up, do you-- does the White House endorse these states opening up their vaccines to folks from out of state? You know, these do expire, so rather than them sitting on the shelf, they are going to go to somebody else.
Jen Psaki: Well, these states are all going to have their own implementation plans. And we certainly work with them to advise how to distribute the vaccines as equitably as possible and as effectively and efficiently around states. No state is 100% vaccinated, as we know. So our focus has been working with them on how to get them to the communities that are the hardest hit.
