The White House announced that first lady Jill Biden will be in Kissimmee and Tampa on Thursday to encourage Floridians to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
After flying into Orlando, Biden will visit a drive-thru vaccination site in Kissimmee administered by Osceola Community Health Services at 2 p.m.
At 4:45 p.m., she's scheduled to be at Amalie Arena in downtown Tampa for the Tampa Bay Lightning's AdventHealth Shots on Ice vaccination event.
At the arena, Floridians can receive vaccinations, try hockey shots on net on the rink, take photos with mascot ThunderBug and the Zamboni, and receive Lightning merchandise.
President Joe Biden had set a vaccination goal of delivering at least one shot to 70% of adult Americans by July Fourth, a target the administration acknowledged Tuesday he will likely fall short of. As of Tuesday, 54% had been vaccinated with at least one dose.
The first lady and other members of her husband's administration have been touring the nation to promote the vaccine to people who have not been immunized.
On Tuesday, she was in Mississippi and Tennessee, states with the fewest number of residents vaccinated against COVID-19, along with Alabama. According to the state Department of Public Health, about 30% of Mississippi’s total population is fully vaccinated.
In Mississippi, she told residents that her husband's administration cares about them. During the stop, she visited a clinic at Jackson State University, one of the largest historically Black universities in the country.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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