White House urges Americans to discuss COVID-19 vaccines over Thanksgiving

Dr. Ashish Jha says 'we can prevent essentially every COVID death in America' during remarks at White House press briefing

The White House on Tuesday encouraged Americans to talk about COVID-19 vaccination at the Thanksgiving table, insisting that widespread vaccination could prevent almost every coronavirus death in the country.

At a press briefing, White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha rolled out the Biden administration's plan for a "six-week sprint" to convince Americans to take the updated COVID-19 vaccine shots before the end of the year. The campaign includes hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding for community health centers to increase the pace of vaccinations, but Jha said every American needs to "step up" and be involved in conversations on vaccination as well.

"Bottom line is that we're doing everything we can in the next six weeks to help families get their updated COVID shots by the end of the year, because it's the best protection for this winter," Jha said, adding that the latest iteration of the COVID-19 vaccine is a "once a year shot," similar to the flu shot.