Google Pledges More Than $2.5M For COVID-19 Vaccine Initiatives: Bloomberg

• Alphabet Inc’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google has announced $250 million in advertising grants for pro-vaccination groups to sponsor over 2.5 billion vaccine-related public service announcements, Bloomberg reports.

• Google’s vaccine-focused charity partner, Gavi, will fund 250,000 shots for low and middle-income countries. Google also pledged $2.5 million for pop-up vaccination sites and associated efforts in Black, Latino and rural U.S. communities.

• The search engine giant has hired former Obama official Karen DeSalvo and other medical experts for a new health division.

• The company has customized search results for online queries regarding the COVID-19 virus and added vaccination locations in Google Maps.

• It committed $800 million in pandemic relief for frontline workers and ad credits for health organizations in March 2020.

• However, Google’s YouTube has faced flak for streaming videos doubting COVID-19 vaccines. Google’s contact-tracing efforts have remained mostly unused by governments.

• Alphabet health unit, Verily-led COVID-19 testing project concluded in less than a year California.

• Price action: GOOG shares traded higher by 1.99% at $2,299.73 on the last check Thursday.

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