La Semana

Google pledges funds for 250,000 vaccinatio­ns & vaccine delivery in low, middle income countries

Google is also helping to fund pop-up vaccine sites in the US and committing an additional $250 million in Ad Grants to connect people to accurate vaccine informatio­n.

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Google pledged funds for 250,000 Covid-19 vaccinatio­ns and technical assistance towards vaccine delivery in low- and middle-income countries amidst a surge in infections across the world. The internet search giant also announced that it is helping to fund pop-up vaccine sites in the US and committing an additional $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-todate 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.

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