RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – President Joe Biden will visit Raleigh Thursday as part of an effort to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations across the United States. His appearance at the Green Road Community Center will kick off a local canvassing event.

While in Raleigh, Biden will also tour a mobile vaccination unit and meet with frontline workers and volunteers who are working to get people in the community vaccinated, according to the White House press briefing.

For Eliazar Posada, Acting President of El Centro Hispano, and Evelyn Sanders, CEO, Southeastern Healthcare, Thursday could potentially be their first chance to meet Biden in-person.

Both organizations have worked for months to help get people in the community vaccinated.

“We are known in the community. So, having the president coming into Wake County. Raleigh, NC. and give us a pat on the back. That really excites us and gives us the motivation to continue to do what we do,” Sanders said.

Posada said his message to the president is simple.

“First of all, thank you for taking this pandemic seriously and making sure this vaccine gets to folks of color, but it’s not enough. we have a lot of work to do,” stated Posada.

He said that work is continuing to make sure people who are doing the work locally have resources.

The push to continue getting shots in arms comes as both North Carolina and the country as a whole are expected to miss Biden’s goal of having 70 percent of adults at least partially vaccinated by the July 4 holiday.

North Carolina ranks 38th nationally in terms of its share of partially vaccinated adults. A previous CBS17.com data analysis found that the state likely won’t reach Biden’s goal until Thanksgiving.

A CDC study this week finds those between 18 and 24 years old were among those with the lowest reported vaccination coverage as well as the lowest intent to get vaccinated. And barely over a third of those between 18 and 39 have gotten a shot.

Locally, the state’s Department of Health and Human Services groups those ages differently. But the trend is exactly the same, with only 35 percent of people between 18 and 24 getting at least one dose.

So it’s no surprise that as their vaccine numbers lag, their case numbers are up — especially as the virus continues to circulate among those pockets of unvaccinated people.

People between 18 and 24 continue to account for 1 in 7 new cases of COVID-19. 

And those between 18 and 29 have made up 11 percent of COVID-related hospital admissions since June 1 — more than double their rate of 4.5 percent of admissions since DHHS began making those figures available in October 2020.

Biden’s visit comes the day after North Carolina had its first drawing for a $1 million vaccine lottery. He is scheduled to arrive around 3:30 p.m. Around 5:15 p.m., he will deliver remarks highlighting the importance of vaccinations and the community canvassing event.