Embed from Getty Images
John Legend is one of those celebrities who seems to always keep busy. He tours pretty regularly and has been a brand ambassador for several companies over the years, including LG, Sperry, and most recently, Neopets. Remember Neopets?! Apparently, they’re making a comeback. John has always been pretty active in Democratic politics, too. One of Legend’s latest side gigs is as a Pfizer spokesperson to help raise awareness for the most recent Covid-19 booster. In an interview with Yahoo, John spoke a bit about his new gig, including the controversy around vaccines and all of the misinformation that’s out there.

Another way the EGOT winner stays healthy is by getting the latest COVID-19 vaccine. Legend has teamed up with Pfizer ahead of the holiday season to raise awareness about the shot.

“Some people feel like it’s controversial to talk about vaccines,” he says. “To me, it’s just intuitive.”

Legend’s motivation to get vaccinated it simple: “I want to protect my family, and I want to encourage other people to do the same.” That said, he acknowledges that some folks are skeptical.

“There’s a lot of misinformation out there,” Legend notes. “I think a lot of people have a general kind of distrust of the authority, or mandates or the establishment, and I understand that. What I tried to rely on is, I talked to my doctor, not any random person on Facebook. I believe if you listen to the experts, the evidence and the recommendation of the medical community is very clear. And I’d rather listen to them than a random average Joe on the internet.”

[From Yahoo]

I really appreciate what Legend’s trying to do, just like I appreciate what Travis Kelce is trying to do. They’re probably tapping into different crowds. Quite frankly, I think that half of the American population is simply too stubborn, too brainwashed, and too contrarian to get a booster, especially since most companies don’t have mandates anymore. He’s right about the misinformation and the distrust of the establishment. While you can probably reach a certain percentage who are just not paying attention, you have an entire right-wing media ecosystem that’s actively invested in sowing doubt or making people scared, angry, or both over vaccines in general. That misinformation gets propped up through social media. Clears throat. Back in my day, people appreciated the opportunity to get protection against life-threatening diseases.

Recent data shows that only 7% of US adults have gotten the most recent Covid-19 booster. While misinformation plays a big role for half of the voting populace, I think that for the rest of Americans, part of it is probably Covid fatigue, part of it is the change in guidelines that don’t make it an automatic two-week timeout from society if you test positive, and part of it is that a lot of people (like me) got Covid in the fall, and the current CDC guidelines say that if you’re recently gotten it, you can delay a booster by up to 3 months. If you’ve been putting off getting your Covid booster, here is your reminder. We got our flu shots last month, but are finally going to get our boosters on Election Day since my kids are off from school. Covid boosters and voting! It’s going to a morning of public responsibility.

Embed from Getty Images

photos credit: IMAGO/RW/MediaPunch / Avalon, Getty and via Instagram