Google will open up spaces in the US to serve as a mass vaccination site for COVID-19: Sundar Pichai
Google will open up spaces in the US to serve as a mass vaccination site for COVID-19: Sundar Pichai
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Sundar Pichai, the Indian-American CEO of Google, announced on Monday that the tech giant will open its spaces in the US to serve as mass COVID-19 vaccination sites and has committed more than USD 150 million to support vaccine education. Google is initially looking at office spaces within the US, but is also open to doing the same in other countries, a company official said.

Google works with local officials to determine when, based on the availability of vaccines, sites can open, Pichai added.

With more than 25 million COVID-19 cases recorded in the country, the US is the worst-hit. According to Johns Hopkins University data, the country’s death toll moved above 417,000.

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“Today, the CDC Foundation, the World Health Organization, and non-profits around the world are announcing an additional USD 100 million in ad grants. In partnership with public health agencies, we will invest another USD 50 million to reach underserved communities with vaccine-related content and information,” Pichai said.

To assist, Google.org has committed USD 5 million in grants to organisations that address racial and geographic disparities in COVID-19 vaccinations, including the Satcher Health Leadership Institute of Morehouse School of Medicine and the CDC Foundation, he said.

According to an official, Google is working with local officials, public health authorities, and medical providers to move quickly, so the sites will open once logistics is completed and as soon as sufficient vaccine doses are available.

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We’re open to support wherever we can, but we’re going to start in the US and we’re going to evaluate from there,” said the official, responding to a question as to whether the programme will be expanded to other countries as well,” said the official.

According to Johns Hopkins University, the new coronavirus that originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the capital of central Hubei Province, claimed more than 2.12 million lives in December 2019 and infected over 99 million people worldwide.