Neighborhood parties, picnics, and playdates are on the horizon for Sesame Street muppets too.
A new video series by Sesame Workshop, the public education arm of Sesame Street, features the beloved Sesame characters celebrating widespread COVID-19 vaccinations and encouraging viewers to get their own shots. In one of the newly released videos, Elmo and his dad Louie share their excitement about getting vaccinated: They look forward to meeting up with old friends Abby and Cookie Monster. “Soon lots of us will be able to do our favorite things again,” Louie says in the minute-long spot.
Another video, I’ll Be Seeing U, features the Letter U in an homage to the singer Billie Holiday. The letter croons along to a montage of favorite Sesame characters and moments, looking ahead to sunnier days when the gang will be back together again. At the end of each video, Sesame Street directs viewers to national vaccine resource GetVaccineAnswers.org.
The videos are a collaboration with the Ad Council, the COVID Collaborative, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the organizations behind a nation-wide public service campaign encouraging Americans to do what they can to stop the spread of COVID-19, including a Vaccine Education Initiative and a prevention campaign for schools.
The Ad Council vaccine campaign, “It’s Up To You”, was launched in February and is intended to be one of the largest public education programs in the country’s history, according to the collaborative. Lisa Sherman, president and CEO of the Ad Council, says the Sesame Street videos expand that even further. “Now, in collaboration with Sesame Workshop and the Sesame Street Muppets, we’re able to reach new audiences of parents and caregivers with heartfelt and informative content that will help us all get back to the people and moments we miss,” Sherman wrote in the series release.
It’s also part of Sesame Street’s Caring For Each Other initiative, launched to educate children and families on proper health and hygiene during the COVID-19 crisis. The website has added a kid-friendly community resources hub, which includes a Vaccine Toolkit with printable activities to help explain why adults need to get vaccinated and keep each other safe. Following CDC guidelines, the Sesame resources reiterate that vaccine accessibility doesn’t mean Americans, especially cuddly muppets, should stop wearing their masks and maintaining appropriate social distancing.
The videos are also available on Sesame Street’s Spanish-language Youtube, and additional bilingual resources were added to the Caring For Each Other website alongside the release.