White Home advisor Andy Slavitt believes 89% of seniors will enroll

Andy Slavitt, White House Senior Advisor on Covid Response, predicted a growing number of Americans will continue to take the Covid vaccine based on news and evidence from trusted sources.

“In Israel, where they are a little ahead of us, 89% of seniors have chosen the vaccine,” Slavitt said. “We believe we can achieve these numbers if we continue to reliably answer people’s questions because these are very good, safe and effective vaccines.”

Around 37% of people in the US over the age of 65 have been fully vaccinated, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the last week alone, the states fired around 17 million shots.

To further facilitate the distribution of vaccines, the Biden government announced that it will launch a nationwide vaccine availability website that will act as a link between the numerous vaccine registration websites from states, pharmacies, and other companies.

Slavitt told CNBC’s The News with Shepard Smith that “the idea would be if you put in your zip code it would show you on a map all the places near you that claim to have vaccines.” He added that streamlining the process would not only reduce widespread frustration, but also reduce vaccine hesitation.

Host Shepard Smith pressed Slavitt on his comments on vaccination records. Speaking at a press conference at the White House Monday, Slavitt said vaccination records should be free, private and secure. However, it is “not the job of the government to save this data and do so”.

Slavitt said Tuesday night that a government-run vaccination record campaign could lead some Americans to believe that the government is too involved in collecting data required for a vaccination record. This resistance is counterproductive for the entire vaccination effort.

“We believe that the public is more reluctant to get vaccinated if they feel like the government. The federal government is too big a role in this,” Slavitt said.