Google will turn some offices into vaccination sites while Maps will help find one

Pocketnow

By Nadeem Sarwar

Published Jan 25, 2021

Aside from opening its infrastructure, Google is also pledging $150 million to promote vaccine education and ensure equitable distribution.

In a bid to lend support to the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign, Google has today announced that it will open some of its buildings, open spaces, and parking lots to be used as vaccination sites. The company is joining hands with health care provider One Medical and public health authorities for turning some of its sites into vaccination spots, starting with Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area in California, Kirkland in Washington and New York City, with plans of expanding the initiative to a national scale.

Google is pledging $150 million towards vaccine education and equitable distribution

Google CEO Satya Nadella mentioned in a blog post that the company is setting aside an amount of $150 million that will go towards promoting vaccine education and ensuring equitable distribution. “Today, we’re announcing an additional $100 million in ad grants for the CDC Foundation, the World Health Organization, and nonprofits around the globe. We’ll invest another $50 million in partnership with public health agencies to reach underserved communities with vaccine-related content and information,” Nadella wrote.

Google Maps and Search will help with the vaccination drive

The search giant has also announced that in the coming weeks, Google Maps will show COVID-19 vaccination locations, and the same will be available via Search as well. Vaccination spots will first start appearing on Google Maps for Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, with additional states set to join the list soon. Following is an image that shows how vital information about COVID-19 vaccination will be accessible on Search as well as Google Maps:

Image: Google

Users will also get information such as the requirement for an appointment prior to getting vaccinated, if they qualify to be in the group that is eligible for vaccination in that phase, and more. Furthermore, the company plans to launch a “Get The Facts” initiative that will help users get access to authoritative information from reliable sources about vaccination across its Search platform as well as YouTube.