The
internet search giant also announced that it is helping to fund pop-up vaccine
sites in the US and committing an additional USD 250 million in Ad Grants to
connect people to accurate vaccine information.
“We're also
announcing that Google Cloud is launching a virtual agent where people without
internet access can schedule vaccine appointments and ask questions about
eligibility and availability over the phone – in up to 28 languages and
dialects,” it said.
The
announcement came as Google's Chief Health Officer Dr Karen DeSalvo joined an
event co-hosted by Gavi – the vaccine alliance – and the US Secretary of State
Antony Blinken to kick off a campaign to fund vaccines for low and middle
income countries.
In a blog
post, Google said more people have access to the COVID-19 vaccine, it is making
it easier to learn why, when and where one can get immunised.
“Today, you
can now find vaccination locations on Google Maps and Search in the US, Canada,
France, Chile, India and Singapore,” it said.
Acknowledging
that overcoming the pandemic will require a coordinated effort on a global
scale, Google said that to do its part it is providing 250,000 COVID-19
vaccines to countries in need, helping fund pop-up vaccine sites in the US, and
committing an additional USD 250 million in Ad Grants to connect people to accurate
vaccine information.
The
announcement came as Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, launched a drive for
additional funding to secure vaccines for people in low and middle-income
countries.
Google.org
is funding 250,000 vaccinations and providing Gavi with pro bono technical
assistance to accelerate global distribution.
“We're also
kicking off an employee giving campaign, and both the Gavi Matching Fund and
Google.org will match each donation to triple the impact,” it said.
Since the
beginning of the pandemic, hundreds of Google employees have helped
organisations connect people with up-to-date information — particularly in
communities that are not typically reached by mainstream public service
announcements.
“For
example, we're working with UnidosUS on a bilingual vaccination campaign that
to date has reached more than two million people in hard-hit communities in
Miami, Chicago, Houston, NYC and LA. We've conducted research with the World
Health Organisation on what information improves vaccine confidence, and
governments worldwide are using these insights to inform their public service
announcements,” Google said.
To expand
this work, Google said that it is committing an additional USD 250 million in
Ad Grants to governments, community and public health organisations, including
the WHO, that will fund more than 2.5 billion vaccine-related PSAs. This brings
Google's total commitment for COVID-related public service announcements to
more than USD 800 million.
“As we've
learned throughout the pandemic, no one is safe from COVID-19 until everyone is
safe. Getting vaccines to everyone around the world is a challenging, but
necessary, undertaking. We'll keep doing our part and working together until we
get there,” Google said.
The World
Health Organisation has warned that the world needs a "reality check"
on the state of the pandemic, as countries abandon restrictions despite four
weeks of rising deaths and seven weeks of rising cases globally.
Over 4.4
million COVID-19 infections have been recorded across the world last week. New
deaths have increased by 11 per cent, the WHO said.
There have
been 138,284,275 confirmed COVID-19 cases globally and the death toll stands at
2,973,179, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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