Facebook launches climate science info centre amid fake news criticism

Facebook said the project is modelled on its COVID-19 Information Centre, and launched a similar feature last month on voting in preparation for the US elections in November

Reuters

September 15, 2020 / 08:02 PM IST

Facebook on September 15 launched a climate science information centre to elevate credible sources on climate change, as critics question its role in the spread of misinformation on the issue.

Facebook said the project is modelled on its COVID-19 Information Centre, and launched a similar feature last month on voting in preparation for the US elections in November.

The tool will be rolled out in the US, France, Germany and the UK, and eventually to other countries.

“The Climate Science Information Centre is a dedicated space on Facebook with factual resources from the world’s leading climate organizations and actionable steps people can take in their everyday lives to combat climate change,” the company said in a post.

It said articles from high-quality publishers and other sources on climate science news will also be available at the centre.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

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There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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