MSD joins forces with other leaders from the technology, health, global development and academic sectors to announce the Alliance for Advancing Health Online
June 10, 2021 8:49 pm +00:00
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MSD joins forces with other leaders from the technology, health, global development and academic sectors to announce the Alliance for Advancing Health Online
LONDON June 10, 2021 – MSD (tradename of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA (NYSE: MRK)) announces its commitment to the Alliance for Advancing Health Online, a new initiative to advance public understanding of how social media, online engagement and behavioural sciences can be leveraged to improve the health and resiliency of communities around the world.
Social media has become one of the most integral aspects of modern society, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic when many of our real-world forums have disappeared and online platforms have been relied on to bring people together from around the world.
This week, MSD and other leaders from the technology, health, global development and academic sectors have announced the Alliance for Advancing Health Online, a new initiative to advance public understanding of how social media, online engagement and behavioural sciences can be leveraged to improve the health and resiliency of communities around the world. Our company and Facebook have each committed $20 million to this multi-year initiative, which will work on addressing vaccine hesitancy and vaccine equity with a strong focus on historically excluded or marginalized communities.
As part of the initiative, an independent Vaccine Confidence Fund has been established to support research on how social media and online platforms can be leveraged to best support confidence in and uptake of COVID-19 and routine immunisations around the world. This fund is financially supported by Facebook and MSD.
“The first step in addressing health issues like vaccine hesitancy is understanding the underlying reasons and meeting people where they are. This collaborative effort is an important step toward better understanding how social media is already being used by people as they make choices about their health,” says Dr. Priya Agrawal, chief behavioural science officer.
Whilst the initial focus of research supported will be on COVID-19 vaccinations and routine immunisations, the Alliance will in time seek to create a global network of centres of social media and health research, focused on generating credible information about vaccination and on improving health behaviour via online platforms.
About MSD
For more than 125 years, MSD has been inventing for life, bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world’s most challenging diseases in pursuit of our mission to save and improve lives. MSD is a trade name of Merck & Co., Inc., with headquarters in Kenilworth, N.J., U.S.A. We demonstrate our commitment to patients and population health by increasing access to health care through far-reaching policies, programs and partnerships. Today, MSD continues to be at the forefront of research to prevent and treat diseases that threaten people and animals – including cancer, infectious diseases such as HIV and Ebola, and emerging animal diseases – as we aspire to be the premier research-intensive biopharmaceutical company in the world. For more information, visit www.msd-uk.com and connect with us @MSDintheUK on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook.
Forward-Looking Statement of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA
This news release of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA (the “company”) includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of the company’s management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to, general industry conditions and competition; general economic factors, including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; the impact of the recent global outbreak of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19); the impact of pharmaceutical industry regulation and health care legislation in the United States and internationally; global trends toward health care cost containment; technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; challenges inherent in new product development, including obtaining regulatory approval; the company’s ability to accurately predict future market conditions; manufacturing difficulties or delays; financial instability of international economies and sovereign risk; dependence on the effectiveness of the company’s patents and other protections for innovative products; and the exposure to litigation, including patent litigation, and/or regulatory actions.
The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Additional factors that could cause results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the company’s 2019 Annual Report on Form 10-K and the company’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) available at the SEC’s Internet site (www.sec.gov).