Olivia Rodrigo visits White House to urge young people get vaccinated

Singer and actress Olivia Rodrigo visited the White House Wednesday, adding some star power to the Biden administration to effort to get more young people to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

"I am beyond honored and humbled to be here today to help spread the message about the importance of youth vaccination," Rodrigo said during an appearance in the White House press briefing room. "I'm in awe of the work President Biden and Dr. Fauci have done and was happy to help lend my support to this important initiative."

"It's important to have conversations with friends and family members encouraging all communities to get vaccinated and actually get to a vaccination site, which you can do more easily than ever before, given how many sites we have and how easy it is to find them@vaccines.gov," she added.

Rodrigo is set to record videos with Biden and Fauci on the importance of getting vaccinated, and will answer questions young people have about the vaccine, according to an administration official.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki expanded on the visit after Rodrigo, who did not take any questions, left the briefing room, and applauded the pop star for offering to come.

"In terms of when a video product will go out, I'll have to check on that and see what the editing process looks like," Psaki said with a smile, adding the White House recognizes there are "huge Olivia Rodrigo fans" across the country as they work to get more young people inoculated.

"I will say, not every 18-year-old uses their time to come do this, so we appreciate her willingness to," Psaki said.

Known for her chart-topping hits "drivers license," "good 4 u," and "deja vu," Rodrigo has over 14 million Instagram followers and 1.3 million Twitter followers. With her appearance, the White House hopes to take advantage of Rodrigo's massive reach with younger Americans.

In a seemingly coordinated rollout, the POTUS Instagram account posted a photo of a young Biden Tuesday morning, with the caption "I know this young person would've gotten vaccination, but we've got to get other young people protected as well. Who's willing to help?"

Rodrigo replied, "i'm in! see you tomorrow at the white house!"

The Biden administration has sought to ramp up efforts to get more people vaccinated -- particularly after the country missed the president's goal of getting 70% of adults at least one dose of the vaccine by July 4.

Young people between the ages of 18 to 24 already have the highest rates of COVID-19 cases, CDC data shows, while increasingly transmissible variants are becoming more dominant in the U.S.

According to the CDC, only 41.2% of the age group is fully vaccinated.

Rodrigo has partnered with a Biden before -- interviewing President Biden's granddaughter Maisy Biden just days before the 2020 election, emphasizing the importance of the youth vote.