Pop star Olivia Rodrigo pushes Biden's youth vaccination drive

WASHINGTON, United States — Filipino-American teen pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo said Wednesday she is "in awe" of White House efforts to get Americans vaccinated against COVID-19 and said getting the shot was "easy."

Rodrigo, who has some 28 million social media followers, is adding star power to the Biden administration attempt to lure young people to vaccination centers.

The singer and Disney actress was meeting President Joe Biden and his top coronavirus advisor Anthony Fauci and will record videos to encourage youth vaccinations.

"I'm in awe of the work President Biden and Dr Fauci have done," Rodrigo, 18, said alongside Press Secretary Jen Psaki at the start of the daily White House media briefing.

"It's important to have conversations with friends and family members, encouraging all communities to get vaccinated," she said. This can be done "more easily than ever before, given how many sites we have and how easy it is to find them."

Rodrigo "offered to come" to the White House, Psaki said, to deliver a message to fans that "getting vaccinated is a way to keep yourself safe, a way to ensure you can see your friends, a way you can go to concerts."

After a strong period of vaccination drives across the United States the pace has slacked off, with young people among the main groups failing to get their shots.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 48% of the US population has been fully vaccinated and 55.5% have received at least one dose.