Facebook Canada, in collaboration with the federal government, is releasing a plan today to educate the public about COVID-19 vaccines.
One of the planned initiatives includes a Facebook live Q&A with Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer. Dr, Howard Njoo, the deputy chief public health officer, and Dr. Evan Adams, the deputy chief medical officer at Indigenous Services Canada, will also participate.
“The Public Health Agency is committed to providing Canadians with accurate information on vaccine safety and effectiveness,” Tam said in a press release. “I know that Canadians also discuss and share health information they receive from friends, family and community leaders.”
“That is why we are working with content creators to make sure they feel empowered and have access to credible information, to have conversations about COVID-19 vaccines with their communities.”
The event will take place on March 31 at 1pm on Facebook Canada’s Facebook page and will be co-hosted by Samantha Yammine, a popular science communicator, and Danielle Nadin from CIHR Institute of Gender and Health.
Additionally, Facebook will start to include content from provincial health organizations in its COVID-19 Information Centre. Facebook Canada’s global director and head of public policy, Kevin Chan, says the social medial company has been working closely with the government since the start of the pandemic to provide accurate information on the coronavirus.
“When we saw that, globally and in Canada, we’re rounding the bend, we’re moving to a phase where it’s going to be about distribution of the vaccine…it just seemed very natural to further that partnership,” he said in an interview.
“I think this is an attempt to address the information ecosystem that we have to work in partnership to get right. Ultimately, Canadians are going to say what they want to say, and they’re going to feel what they feel about the vaccine. We think our role is to make sure they get as much good information as possible about it.”
