McDonald's teams up with Biden administration to share vaccine information

McDonald's is teaming up with the White House to help get the word out on COVID-19 vaccines.

The fast-food chain announced Tuesday it has partnered with the Biden administration to provide customers with access to trusted, independent information on vaccines. The partnership is part of the company's ongoing efforts to support communities and neighborhoods during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The initiative begins later this month and will kick off with an informational billboard in Times Square. In July, both McCafé cups and McDelivery seal stickers will promote vaccines.gov, where customers can get more information on how to protect themselves and others from the virus plus find nearby vaccine appointments.

The new packaging and ads will feature art from the national We Can Do This campaign, with the campaign’s slogan set against a map of the United States.

"We all want to protect ourselves and our loved ones and be together with our communities again. McDonald’s is excited to be doing our part for the people we serve, providing them with simple information that can help keep them safe," Genna Gent, McDonald’s USA vice president for global public policy and government relations, said in a statement. "This is a team effort – it takes all of us. We’re proud to enter this partnership to provide trusted, independently verified information about COVID-19 vaccines to our customers in the nearly 14,000 communities we serve."

U.S. secretary of health and human services, Xavier Becerra, added that "ending this pandemic requires all of us working together."

"Getting vaccinated is easy. More than 150 million people have already gotten at least one dose of vaccine and millions more are getting vaccinated every day," he said. "Thanks to McDonald's, people will now be able to get trusted information about vaccines when they grab a cup of coffee or order a meal."

This new business, government and community partnership builds on McDonald's continued efforts to provide for the safety of both employees and customers since last March.

In January, the fast-food restaurant chain announced that managers and crew at corporate-owned U.S. restaurants and U.S. corporate employees would receive up to four hours of paid time to receive the vaccine.