Monitoring Desk
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Monday that Facebook is building a tool to connect people to information about where and when to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
The big picture: Facebook has been blamed for the spread of anti-vaccination misinformation during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.
Details: In a blog post, Zuckerberg said the company aims to help bring 50 million people “one step closer to getting vaccinated” by helping people “learn more about COVID-19 vaccines and find out when and where” they can get one.
- To make this possible, Facebook has partnered with Boston Children’s Hospital to offer a tool that helps Facebook users identify places nearby to get a vaccine.
- Zuckerberg said the company will also expand its “COVID-19 Information Center,” currently on the main Facebook app, to Instagram.
- It will also deploy official chatbots on its messaging app WhatsApp to get people registered for vaccinations with health authorities and governments.
- Zuckerberg said Facebook will make real-time aggregate trends on “COVID-19 vaccinations, intent to get vaccinated, and reasons for hesitancy” available to public officials, like the World Health Organization, to help inform an equitable rollout of the vaccine.
Be smart: It’s made more efforts in recent months to ensure more people access accurate information about the COVID-19 vaccine as it become more accessible around the globe.
- In a reversal from its previous position, Facebook said last month that it will take tougher action during the pandemic against claims that vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccination, are not effective or safe.
- Last year, Zuckerberg said the company wouldn’t target anti-vaccination posts the same way it has aggressively cracked down on COVID misinformation.
