Facebook Announces Plans to Improve Access to Corona 19 Vaccine

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on March 15 (local time) that Facebook and Instagram will launch a global campaign to make the Corona 19 vaccine available.

There are three specific plans for a global campaign. The first is a tool that provides information on when and where the Corona 19 vaccine is available. Facebook provides a function to search for facilities that can vaccinate the Corona 19 vaccine in connection with VaccineFinder, a vaccination search service operated by Boston Children’s Hospital. This feature is available in 71 languages and includes facility opening hours, contact information, and links to reservation pages. Facebook plans to make this feature available in more countries in the future.

Second is the official vaccination registration tool. It will be possible to register for COVID-19 vaccine vaccinations using WhatsApp, a messenger app in direct connection with the health authorities and the government. Already in Argentina and Indonesia, the government uses WhatsApp to inform citizens of the vaccination order.

Third, we will introduce the Corona 19 Information Center on Instagram. The Corona 19 Information Center, a page exclusively for Corona 19 introduced on Facebook, will be newly introduced on Instagram. The above two tools can be accessed from this page, and the Corona 19 Information Center also contains information on support from other corona19-related medical institutions, trusted experts, and psychotherapy, and can be accessed directly from Facebook and Instagram. have.

In addition to the global campaign, Facebook also unfolds four ways to cope with Corona 19. First, display trusted expert information. Facebook cooperates with governments, health organizations, the European Union and the African Union to show information on Corona 19 in the form of an advertisement that inserts information on the timeline. In addition, it is said that the advertisement for OnlyTogether, a project announced by the United Nations to provide vaccines to people around the world fairly, will be launched soon.

Next is the labeling of the COVID-19 vaccine information. In February 2021, Facebook announced that it would delete accounts that spread misinformation about the Corona 19 vaccine. In fact, it has deleted 2 million content from several accounts on Facebook and Instagram. In order to prevent the spread of misinformation about the Corona 19 vaccine, Facebook added a label with Corona 19 vaccine information to the Corona 19 vaccine post, according to the World Health Organization WHO. These efforts are currently being deployed in six languages, including English and French, with additional languages expected in the coming weeks.

The third is a large dataset on vaccines. Facebook is releasing a data map created based on a large-scale survey on Corona 19 in cooperation with Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Maryland. In the survey, whether there is a plan for vaccination or whether the vaccine is considered safe, etc., Facebook says that the dataset can be used to help policy at the local level.

The last is CrowdTangle, an information site. Crowd Tangle is a service that allows you to cross-check Reddit content, an overseas community, on Facebook and Instagram. This service, which can be found on one page of government and media information, was already being deployed, but it is becoming easier to access Corona 19 information by adding new information about Corona 19, Corona 19 vaccine, etc. to the page. There are currently pages for 86 countries. It is also said that Instagram will introduce a new Corona 19 sticker. This sticker contains a link to the Corona 19 Information Center.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg says more than 2 billion people are already leading reliable Corona 19 information, and the new campaign will enable 50 million people to get closer to the Corona 19 vaccine. Related information can be found here.