“Sesame Street” has entered the culture wars. There was swift kickback after “Sesame Street” launched a campaign to push for children as young as five to get the COVID-19 vaccine, which included a CNN town hall with the puppets. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) labeled the initiative to promote the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine as “government propaganda.”
“Sesame Street” characters launched a coordinated campaign to promote the COVID-19 vaccine to kids last week. The initiative began days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 through 11.
“Sesame Street” characters appeared on a CNN town hall on Saturday morning titled “The ABCs of COVID Vaccines.” The town hall was hosted by CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta and CNN anchor Erica Hill, who answered questions about the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine from the hand puppets.