Facebook has announced that it’s donating $5 million towards the Go Give One fundraising campaign established by the World Health Organization Foundation. The money will go towards the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) mechanism which is helping to distribute COVID-19 vaccines around the world equitably.
While increased vaccine production and increased funding to buy vaccines will help enormously to ensure that everyone can get a vaccine, there are still communities in wealthy countries that are resistant to getting a vaccine due to their perception of the vaccine or misinformation that they have heard about it from friends, family, or online.
To rectify the second issue, Facebook is partnering with organisations in areas that vaccines are becoming available to help reach out to those most affected by the coronavirus. In the United States, Facebook has is working with KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation), BlackDoctor.org, and the National Academy of Medicine to promote content that features black doctors, nurses, and researchers answering questions about COVID-19 vaccines.
Facebook will also be helping AARP and Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health to run Spanish-language campaigns to inform and educate more people about COVID-19 vaccines.
In the UK, Facebook said it’s working with Dope Black Dads, the British Islamic Medical Association, and the Caribbean African Health Network to run campaigns that target the communities they work in. Earlier news reports revealed that ethnic minorities were more exposed to the coronavirus due to the jobs they do (unable to work from home) and the fact many more people from these groups are living in overcrowded housing. These groups of people have also been targeted by anti-vaccine messages online which is increasing hesitancy.
Hopefully, Facebook’s newly announced efforts will help to get more vaccines out to those communities which are hit hardest by the pandemic. If you’d like to donate to the Go Give One campaign, you can do so now.