To help combat the spread of the virus among young children, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday that it is re-releasing a series of public service announcements featuring the popular Sesame Street character Elmo.

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The congressman have also asked PBS how much money is dedicated to Sesame Street, how much the new character will cost to introduce and whether or not it will feature in US editions of the series.

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Sesame Street hopes to tackle this issue by introducing a new character, Lily (pictured above) to the cast.

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