Biden introduces door-to-door vaccination effort

President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that his administration would step up efforts to get Americans vaccinated against COVID-19 with a new program that would go “door to door, literally knocking on doors,” urging people to get the shots.

During his remarks the president said that “We need to go community by community, neighborhood by neighborhood, and oft times, door to door, literally knocking on doors” to encourage vaccination.

Those knocking on the doors will offer information about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine.

The administration failed to reach its self imposed goal of having 70% of the nation’s eligible people at least partially vaccinated by July 4th. In a briefing earlier in the day, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that by the end of this week nearly 160 million Americans would be fully vaccinated.

When asked about whether the administration would halt or slow initiatives to convince Americans to take the vaccine now that the remaining hold outs seem unwilling, Psaki insisted that efforts would continue, though she did rule out any federally mandates for now.

Biden suggested that the unique door knocking approach was needed now that “we are continuing to wind down the mass vaccination sites that did so much in the spring.”

In addition to the door to door information campaign, Psaki said other measures would include a “renewed emphasis on getting the vaccines to more primary care doctors,” and increasing access for workers at job sites.