After Big Bird's official Twitter account shared that the Sesame Street character had gotten vaccinated, prominent conservative and anti-vaxxer figures criticized the message. God forbid an anthropomorphic bird share a public health message!
Ted Cruz and Lavern Spicer called the Tweet "propaganda." Fox contributor Lisa Boothe wrote "Brainwashing children who are not at risk from COVID. Twisted." She didn't acknowledge the dangers of Covid to immunocompromised kids nor the ongoing problems long Covid in children.
Sesame Street has frequently promoted public health issues. Big Bird explicitly promoted vaccines in 1972, and in 2015, Elmo had a very charming chat with the surgeon general about vaccinations (if you don't care to watch the whole clip, you should at least watch from 2:33 to the end).
