Facebook launches vaccine finder tool

FB Covid vaccine dashboard courtesy

Facebook has announced several new tools aimed at helping increase vaccination rates. According to the CDC, more than 11% of the U.S. population have received a full dose of the various vaccines.  

Texas currently ranks No. 38 among states in the percentage of citizens vaccinated.

Facebook’s new tools come as the company announces they are committed to helping vaccinate 50 million people against COVID-19.

The new features include: 

- FWBP Digital Partners -

  • Vaccine Finder Tool: To help find where and when you can get a COVID-19 vaccine, Facebook is partnering with Boston Children’s Hospital to launch a Vaccine Finder tool that helps users find nearby locations that offer the vaccine. Starting today, users can search for vaccine locations and make an appointment directly from their News Feeds. In the coming weeks, users will also be able to see whether the locations nearest to them have vaccines available. See visuals here. 
  • Vaccinated Profile Picture Frame: Research shows that social norms can have a major impact on attitudes and behaviors related to health, so in partnership with the CDC, Facebook is launching new profile picture frame options so users can show their support for COVID-19 vaccines, as well as tools to share with friends and family that they have been vaccinated.
  • Vaccine Trends: Providing public officials with real-time aggregate trends in COVID-19 vaccinations, intent to get vaccinated, and reasons for hesitancy to inform equitable vaccine rollout.
  • Partner Credits: Providing partners with enough ad credits to reach nearly everyone on Facebook and Instagram with critical messaging on COVID-19.
  • Crowdtangle Display: Facebook says is making it easy to track how COVID-19 vaccine information is being spread on social media through CrowdTangle’s COVID-19 Live Displays. Publishers, global aid organizations, journalists and others can access real-time, global streams of vaccine-related posts on Facebook, Instagram and Reddit in 34 languages.

Facebook has also stepped up its vaccine misinformation fight, announcing an expanded policy last month that includes all vaccines — not just those against COVID-19.  The company said it has implemented several temporary measures to further limit the spread of potentially harmful Covid and vaccine information during the pandemic.

Last week, President Joe Biden has directed his administration to order another 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine, growing a likely U.S. surplus of doses later this year.

The U.S. was to have enough approved vaccine delivered by mid-May to cover every adult and enough for 400 million people total by the end of July.