Associated Press
Four former presidents are urging Americans to get vaccinated as soon as COVID-19 doses are available to them, as part of a campaign to overcome hesitancy about the shots.
Two public service announcements from the Ad Council and the business-supported COVID Collaborative feature Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter as well as first ladies Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, and Rosalynn Carter. All of them have received doses of the COVID-19 vaccines.
In a 60-second spot, the former presidents say what they’re most looking forward to once the pandemic ends.
Each of them publicly received vaccines as soon as they were available. Former President Donald Trump and former First Lady Melania Trump received their shots privately in January. They are not participating in the public service announcement.
Bill Clinton, 74, says he wants to “go back to work and I want to be able to move around.” Obama, 59, says he wants to be able to visit with his mother-in-law, “to hug her, and see her on her birthday.” Bush, 74, talks about “going to opening day in Texas Rangers stadium with a full stadium.”
Jimmy Carter, 96, says he got vaccinated to help end the pandemic “as soon as possible.”
The video features photos of the former presidents and their spouses with syringes in their upper arms as they urge Americans to “roll up your sleeve and do your part” by getting vaccinated.
A separate 30-second ad was filmed hours after President Joe Biden’s inauguration at Arlington National Cemetery. It features Bush, Obama and Clinton encouraging vaccinations.
“The science is clear,” Bush says. “These vaccines will protect you and those you love from this dangerous and deadly disease.” Obama calls them, the “first step to ending the pandemic and moving our country forward.”
Trump was still in office when the ex-presidents’ project began in December, according to the Ad Council, and he did not attend Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, when Obama, Bush and Clinton gathered together in person to film. A Trump adviser revealed last week that the Trumps were vaccinated in private before leaving the White House on Inauguration Day.
The ad campaign comes as U.S. supply of the coronavirus vaccines continues to ramp up and as public health experts worry that some Americans may choose not to get vaccinated, which would slow the country’s path toward “herd immunity” to the virus.
The “It’s Up to You” campaign encourages Americans to visit www.GetVaccineAnswers.org to get the facts about the vaccines.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also involved in the education initiative.
___
Republished with permission from The Associated Press.
One comment
Palmer Tom
March 11, 2021 at 5:01 pm
We’d love to get shots. We’re waiting for the Trump vaccine to arrive.
Comments are closed.