Behind the CDC-WhatsApp vaccination

• That lag has meant those communities continue to suffer high COVID case rates.

Why it matters: WhatsApp was for several months a vector for the spread of COVID-19 disinformation across the globe until the Facebook-owned app began countering with chatbots.

• Sonia Sroka, head of multicultural communications, tells Axios Latino the CDC alliance expands on a campaign first begun with the World Health Organization and Latin American governments like Argentina's and Mexico's.
• The CDC chatbot is in Spanish since there is less factual immunization info available in that language in the U.S.

The big picture: Vaccination rates for Latinos in the U.S. have stumbled over hurdles to access.

• Younger Latinos also report hesitancy over confusion and misinformation about the vaccines’ effectiveness.
• The idea is to provide accurate information through “the apps that people actually use every day,” Sroka tells Axios Latino.