Olivia Rodrigo tours West Wing as pop star joins Biden and Fauci for youth vaccine push

Olivia Rodrigo was seen taking a tour of the White House ahead of a meeting with Joe Biden and Dr Anthony Fauci, who are filming videos together to encourage young people to vaccinated against Covid.

The pop sensation was welcomed to the West Wing of the White House on Wednesday morning and was filmed smiling before she was taken on a tour of the building.

Ms Rodrigo, according to Bloomberg’s White House correspondent Jordan Fabian, also met with White House staffers on Wednesday.

She told reporters at a briefing: “I am beyond humbled and honoured to be here today to help spread the message about the importance of youth vaccination.”

“I’m in awe of the work president Biden and Dr Fauci have done and was happy to lend my support to this important initiative,” the singer added, saying it was “important to have conversations with friends and family” about getting vaccinated.

Jen Psaki, the White House press Secretary, said Ms Rodrigo would meet with Mr Biden and his chief medical adviser later on Wednesday.

Dr Fauci said of the chart-topper on Tuesday: “I understand that she’s a very popular figure among young individuals,”

"And if she has a large following, which I understand she has an enormous following, I’m sure that she can do some good by appealing to the people who look up to her as a model," he added.

White House officials said ahead of the meeting that the star of High School Musical: The Musical will record videos informing young people about the importance of getting vaccinated against Covid.

Dr Fauci told MSNBC that the administration wants to get trusted messengers that people can relate to, as opposed to just federal officials telling people to get vaccinated.

According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last month, more than 159 million Americans were fully vaccinated from the virus, but only 31.9 per cent of 18 to 29-year-olds were.

Among the wider US population, 58.9 per cent were fully vaccinated as of Tuesday.

Mr Biden appeared to tease Ms Rodrigo’s visit by posting a picture from his youth on Instagram and captioned it by saying: ”I know this young person would’ve gotten vaccinated, but we’ve got to get other young people protected as well. Who’s willing to help?”

Ms Rodrigo responded to the post by saying: “I’m in! see you tomorrow at the white house!”

The White House confirmed the visit shortly after.

“Our work to reach young people where they are with information about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, includes the President’s participation in the YouTube Town Hall with Dr Fauci which drove millions of views to young people around vaccination efforts," an official told NY1 News. on Tuesday

Sour, the debut album by Ms Rodrigo which was released in May, has hit the top of the Billboard 200 char three times and broke Spotify’s record for the most streams in a week for a debut album by a female artist.