U.S. President Joe Biden is set to announce additional steps toward promoting vaccine accessibility, including free rides on Uber and Lyft to vaccination sites, to help meet the administration's goal of 70 per cent of adults getting at least one coronavirus shot by July 4.
Uber and Lyft will provide free rides to and from vaccination sites until July 4 as part of a new partnership with the White House, a White House official told CNN. White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients detailed the new steps in a call with governors on Tuesday, and Biden will highlight the program during a virtual meeting with a bipartisan group of governors on Tuesday afternoon.
The White House shared information on the location of about 80,000 vaccination sites with the ride share companies and the two companies plan to promote the free rides in their apps.
"People will be able to simply select a vaccination site near them, follow simple directions to redeem their ride, and then get a ride to take them to and from a nearby vaccination site free of charge. The feature will launch in the next two weeks and run until July 4," the White House said in a statement. "By helping Americans get a free ride to a vaccination site, Lyft and Uber are eliminating a potential barrier and driving America closer to the President's goal of getting 70 per cent of the U.S. adult population with at least one shot by July 4th."
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the new partnership.
Additionally, the administration is ramping up vaccination sites with new partnerships with the nation's community colleges, providing on-site vaccination clinics.
"These community colleges will work to get word out to students, staff, and local communities to make use of these clinics, especially for students who are on or nearby campus this summer," the White House said in the statement.
Biden will also announce additional funding for state, territorial, tribal and local governments for "community outreach and engagement." That funding will help boost educational efforts via phone, text and in-person outreach, setting up pop-up sites, and other partnerships, per the White House.
These new efforts come as supply is beginning to outpace demand. It also comes one week after Biden set a new goal of administering at least one vaccine dose to 70 per cent of the population and having 160 million US adults fully vaccinated by July 4.
So far, about 153 million adults -- about 58 per cent of the adult population in the US -- have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, according to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
During the virtual governors meeting -- which will include Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Maine Gov. Janet Mills, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz -- Biden is expected to speak about best practices in getting Americans vaccinated.
