Google, the American multinational technology company, has announced that it is launching an initiative to provide more than one fifty million dollars to promote education and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.
According to The Verge, Google is going to make some of its facilities, buildings, parking lots, and open spaces available as vaccination clinics, with plans to open sites in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Kirkland, Washington, and New York City first, and expand nationally as vaccines become more widely available.
Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post that the company will give a hundred million dollars in ad grants to the CDC Foundation, the World Health Organization, and other nonprofits. It also plans to invest another fifty million dollars in partnerships with public health agencies to help get information about vaccines to underserved communities.
“Our efforts will focus heavily on equitable access to vaccines.” He added, “Early data in the U.S. shows that disproportionately affected populations, especially people of color and those in rural communities, aren’t getting access to the vaccine at the same rates as other groups.”
To help get vaccines to more people, Google is providing $150M to promote vaccine education & equitable access, and opening up our spaces for vaccination sites as needed. On Search & Maps, we’re making it easy to find when + where to get a vaccine. https://t.co/Iep0n0Dv47
— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) January 25, 2021
As per The Verge, Google will also expand the vaccine information panels in its search results and will start showing state and regional distribution information in search so people can check when they’re eligible to receive a vaccine.
Google launched the vaccine information panels in search last month in the UK, listing information on each individual vaccine. They’re similar to the info panels it used to share facts about COVID-19 and the locations of testing centres