Grab launched a programme aimed at increasing vaccine access and education for all stakeholders on its platform. The programme includes a myriad of measures to encourage all passengers, driver and delivery partners to get vaccinated. Furthermore, Grab plans to work closely with governments across the region to offer mobility, communications and logistics support for national vaccine deployment plans through its ground fleet network and widely-used consumer app.
Grab’s vaccine programme is built around the two pillars of access and education. As countries begin to roll out vaccinations, Grab is committed to supporting informed and equitable access to vaccines for all Southeast Asians. A global YouGov poll conducted in December last year around vaccine confidence showed that 40 percent of Indonesians and 46 per cent of Singaporeans are still wary of the vaccine and may not get themselves vaccinated[1].
Access: To support convenient access to the Covid-19 vaccine and to encourage our stakeholders to get vaccinated, Grab is committed to:
- Subsidising the cost of Covid-19 vaccines for driver and delivery partners not covered by free national vaccination programmes.
- Extending its Group Prolonged Medical Leave insurance policy provided by Chubb to cover potential loss of income by driver-partners as a result of side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine. This extension will be provided to driver-partners free of charge.
- Covering the cost of Covid-19 vaccinations for all Grab employees and their immediate family members not covered by national vaccination schemes.
Grab’s goal is to reach fully-vaccinated[2] status for all Grab employees as well as Grab driver and delivery partners by end of 2022.
Education: Work closely with governments to provide important and timely vaccination information in order to combat misinformation and boost public confidence in Covid-19 vaccines.
- The Grab app has been downloaded more than 214 million times, and is used by millions of Southeast Asians every day. Grab plans to work with Southeast Asian governments and health authorities to publish accurate vaccine and other public health information within dedicated high-visibility spaces within the Grab app.
- To help governments better understand public sentiment around vaccines, Grab plans to launch a “Covid-19 Snap Survey” platform. The survey platform allows governments to work with Grab to conduct lightning surveys on a wide sample pool to gather real time data on vaccine sentiment. We expect that this will enable public health authorities to better tailor their vaccine strategy and messaging for the public.
- Grab plans to run workshops and town halls to educate its driver, delivery, merchant and agent partners on the benefits of getting vaccinated.
Russell Cohen, Group Managing Director of Operations, Grab, said: “The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines is moving Southeast Asia into recovery mode. We believe this will allow people and businesses to operate with more confidence in their own safety, driving renewed economic and community activity. But there are many challenges to vaccine delivery, particularly in a region as widespread and diverse as ours. We’ve worked closely with governments across Southeast Asia throughout the past year to address pandemic challenges on multiple fronts, and now hope to play our part in making sure every Southeast Asian has access to the right information and resources to get vaccinated.”
Additionally, Grab is in discussions with various governments to lend support in facilitating mobility to and from vaccination centers, as well as last-mile vaccine distribution.
With a network of driver and delivery partners spread across 397 cities in Southeast Asia, Grab plans to work with various governments to design initiatives to address specific challenges in each country. For example, providing discounted rides to and from vaccination centers for those requiring mobility assistance, such as the elderly or disabled; delivering vaccines to rural areas; or using its network of Grab Driver Centers as vaccination points.
“The quicker we can achieve herd immunity, the sooner our communities and economies can start to rebuild. Public-private partnership has been critical in taking on some of the pandemic’s biggest battles, and this collaboration should continue. We’re ready to offer our technology, network and reach to support national vaccination efforts in the best way we can, and look forward to releasing more information on our initiatives locally as plans are confirmed,” concluded Cohen.
