Google opens up its US office facilities as Covid-19 vaccine clinics

Google is offering some of its US offices, as well as its car parks and open spaces, as vaccination centres, it has announced. 

The tech giant has contributed to combating Covid-19 in various ways throughout the pandemic, including working with Apple to create the blueprint for dozens of contact-tracing apps worldwide. 

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has today also revealed that Google is adding Covid vaccine location information to both Maps and Search, to help people find more information on where and when they can get a jab.

Google has previously said all staff will be working from home until at least July as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, leaving their vast office spaces standing idle. 

The US, which has supplies of both the Moderna and Pfizer jabs, has so far vaccinated six per cent of its population, administering around 20.5million doses. 

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Google’s four main offices in the US — in Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area, Kirkland, Washington and New York City — will be the locations turned into vaccine hubs in collaboration with healthcare provider One Medical. 

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and parent company Alphabet, said in a blog post: ‘Today we’re announcing that we’re providing more than $150 million to promote vaccine education and equitable distribution and making it easier to find locally relevant information, including when and where to get the vaccine. 

‘We’ll also be opening up Google spaces to serve as vaccination sites as needed.’

He explained that searches for ‘vaccines near me’ increased fivefold since the start of 2021 and adds ‘we want to make sure we’re providing locally relevant answers’.

As a result the tech giant is adding Covid-19 vaccine locations to both its traditional Search feature as well as Maps. 

‘We’ll include details like whether an appointment or referral is required, if access is limited to specific groups, or if it has a drive-through,’ Mr Pichai adds 

Google will start immediately showing vaccine hub locations in Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas and Mr Pichai says it will expand this feature to ‘more states and countries to come’.

‘We’ll begin showing state and regional distribution information on Search so people can easily find when they are eligible to receive a vaccine,’ he says.  

The Google chief also announced a $150 million commitment to promote vaccine education and equitable access to the lifesaving jabs. 

More than $100million is to be committed to ad grants for the CDC, WHO and other organisations to help get out key public health messages. 

Google is also pledging $50million to public health agencies specifically with the intention of reaching ‘underserved communities with vaccine-related content and information’.

‘Our efforts will focus heavily on equitable access to vaccines,’ Mr Pichai said. 

‘Early data in the U.S. shows that disproportionately affected populations, especially people of color and those in rural communities, aren’t getting access to the vaccine at the same rates as other groups. 

‘To help, Google.org has committed $5 million in grants to organizations addressing racial and geographic disparities in COVID-19 vaccinations.’

Google is not the only tech company to commit to trying to help with the Covid-19 relief effort, with Amazon and Apple among the companies also dedicating resources, expertise and funds.  

Amazon last week said it was opening its own spaces for vaccinations while sourcing jabs for its own staff, including workers at warehouses, data centre employees and staff at Whole Foods, which is also owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. 

Microsoft, founded by billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates who helped fund some vaccines, also said it will open up its Redmond campus for vaccinations.

Apple, which worked with Google on building the contact tracing API, has also kept to its pledge of donating more than a million pieces of PPE to healthcare workers every week of the pandemic.