McDonald’s is partnering with the Biden Administration to expand access of the COVID vaccine.
The burger giant’s new initiative will start later in May with information on its billboard in Times Square, including facts from the White House and the Department of Health and Human Service’s “We Can Do This” campaign. Then in July, McCafé cups and McDelivery seal stickers will lead customers to vaccines.gov, which has a plethora of information about COVID and details about where people can set up a vaccine appointment.
“We all want to protect ourselves and our loved ones and be together with our communities again. McDonald’s is excited to be doing our part for the people we serve, providing them with simple information that can help keep them safe,” said Genna Gent, U.S. vice president for global public policy and government relations, in a statement. “This is a team effort—it takes all of us. We’re proud to enter this partnership to provide trusted, independently verified information about COVID-19 vaccines to our customers in the nearly 14,000 communities we serve.”
McDonald’s has championed the vaccine since the beginning of the year. In January, the brand announced that employees at company-run stores would receive up to four hours of paid time to receive the vaccine. Additionally, McDonald’s hosted a vaccine clinic earlier in May at its Chicago headquarters.
As of Monday morning, more than 152 million have received at least one dose, or 46 percent of the total population, and more than 115 million are fully vaccinated, or 34.8 percent of the total population. At the same time, the seven-day average of COVID cases was 38,678 on Sunday, a level not seen since September.
“Getting vaccinated is easy. More than 150 million people have already gotten at least one dose of vaccine, and millions more are getting vaccinated every day,” said Xavier Becerra, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, in a statement. “Thanks to McDonalds, people will now be able to get trusted information about vaccines when they grab a cup of coffee or order a meal. Ending this pandemic requires all of us working together to do our part, including encouraging our friends and family to get vaccinated. This effort will help more people make informed decisions about their health and learn about steps they can take to protect themselves and their communities.”
McDonald’s isn’t the only major chain assisting with vaccinations. In January, Starbucks announced that it joined a coalition to help Washington state with its vaccine rollout. The company has lent several employees across operation services, labor and deployment, analytics and insights, store development, food safety and regulatory, and the Tryer Center, an innovation lab working to improve vaccination sites.
