The tech giant, which owns Instagram and WhatsApp, announced Monday that it will use its platforms to help users learn more about Covid-19 vaccines, including where and when they can be vaccinated.
“Now that many countries are vaccinating all adults, we are working on tools to make it easier for everyone to be vaccinated as well,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in prepared remarks on social media on Monday. platform has been placed.
“First, we introduce a tool that shows you when and where you can vaccinate, and gives you a link to make an appointment,” Zuckerberg wrote in the post. “It’s in the Covid Information Center, which will show our people in their news feed.”
The Covid Information Center will also be on Instagram, where Zuckerberg said the company will also show it prominently to people there.
The company, Zuckerberg added, is also working with health authorities and governments to expand their WhatsApp chatbots to help people sign up for vaccinations.
How to find Covid-19 vaccines via Facebook
To help people find vaccines, Facebook has partnered with Boston Children’s Hospital to launch a collaborative tool in the United States. The tool connects Facebook users with access to Covid-19 vaccines in their area, hours for vaccination sites, contact information and links to make an appointment.
You need to be able to search in your Facebook app – if you type something like ‘Covid-19’ or ‘Covid-19 vaccine’. “This will bring the Covid-19 Information Center to Facebook, and within it there will be a new tool where you can search to find vaccination centers near you,” Kang-Xing Jin, Facebook’s head of health, told CNN on Sunday. .
“Our partners in the United States have seen a 19% increase in first-time blood donors nationwide,” he said. “So our real hope is to help with the introduction of the vaccine here.”
“It’s initially on Facebook, but we hope to bring it to Instagram soon,” Jin said.
Covid-19 Information Center launches on Instagram
For the time being, the Covid-19 information center itself has been brought to Instagram, “which will contain a lot of information on common questions about the vaccine,” Jin said. “And it’s also available live from today.”
When users click on the Covid-19 Information Center portal, they see Covid-19 information from their local health ministers and the World Health Organization.
In the coming weeks, posts on social media about Covid-19 vaccines will automatically get labels pointing people to the Covid-19 Information Center.
“This will apply to all posts that usually deal with Covid-19 vaccines,” Jin said. “The label mainly provides a link to the Covid-19 Information Center where people can go to get answers to common questions.”
Facebook also announced on Monday that Instagram has released new ‘stickers’ about the Covid-19 vaccine that users can use in their Instagram Stories. For example, once on a sticker it says “COME DUST” and has a heart symbol.
Health authorities turn to WhatsApp
Meanwhile, new developments are also taking place on Facebook’s other platform, WhatsApp. Facebook has introduced the messaging app as a way for health authorities and governments to share Covid-19 vaccination information with users.
For example, the city of Buenos Aires in Argentina announced last week that WhatsApp will be the official channel through which citizens will be notified when it is their turn to receive the vaccine, according to Facebook.
“WhatsApp is a free service that is actually cheaper than texting or texting. So it can reduce barriers in some ways,” Jin said.
“At the end of the day, governments use all communication channels to reach people where they are – online and offline – with relevant information. And we do our best to support those efforts and choices.”