Staff

Former First Lady Michelle Obama has teamed up with the moms of Zendaya, John David Washington, Alicia Keys, Jonah Hill and Adam Levine for a PSA—released this week—urging Americans across the nation to get vaccinated to safeguard themselves and their families over the holidays as the now dominant Omicron variant fuels COVID cases to record highs.

“In a time when people are confused, especially kids, about who they can trust and what they should do, kids know they can trust their Moms,” said Sharon Feldstein, the mother of Jonah Hill and the founder of YourMomCares, a kids’ mental health and wellbeing nonprofit. “Moms are always going to weigh the options and choose the safest and best one to protect their children. This is why we felt it was absolutely necessary for us to use our collective voices and opinions to let everyone know they should go out and get the vaccine. Period.”

“I was very reluctant to get the vaccine,” admits Pauletta Washington, mother to John David Washington and wife of Denzel Washington. “But then I was convinced. I got it, and now, I feel free.”

For the campaign, Your Mom Cares joined with Made to Save, a national grassroots effort to ensure communities hardest hit by the pandemic have access to the COVID-19 vaccines and accurate, timely information and The Second City, the world’s premier brand in improvisation and sketch-based comedy entertainment and education.

“As a parent, physician, and senior advisor to Made to Save, I know how important it is to demonstrate—like this special PSA video does—the value in talking to your friends and family about getting vaccinated against COVID-19,” says Dr. Alice Chen, Senior Advisor at Made to Save, a “national coalition [that] empowers trusted messengers to ensure that everyone has equitable access to vaccines and to information they can trust.”

The Los Angeles County Public Health Department reported 1,696 new COVID-19 cases among Blacks over the last week (up by 879).