Ticker: YouTube bans false vaccine claims; T launching free paratransit trips from Logan

YouTube is wiping vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories from its popular video-sharing platform.

The ban on vaccine misinformation, announced in a blog post on Wednesday, comes as countries around the world continue to offer free immunizations for COVID-19 to a somewhat hesitant public. Public health officials have struggled to push back against a steady current of online misinformation about the COVID-19 shot since development of the immunization first got underway last year.

As of Wednesday, popular anti-vaccine accounts, including those run by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., were kicked off YouTube.

YouTube, which is owned by Google, will delete videos that falsely claim vaccines are dangerous or cause health issues, like cancer, infertility or autism — a theory that scientists have discredited for decades but has endured on the internet.

T launching free paratransit trips from Logan

In an effort to provide transit equity and parity, the MBTA announced Wednesday that paratransit RIDE trips that originate from Logan International Airport terminals and end within three-quarter miles of the MBTA’s subway system will be free, beginning on Friday. Those trips currently cost about $3.35.

Mandated under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the RIDE provides transportation to people who are unable to use the subway, bus or trolley due to a temporary or permanent disability.

The T said its change in service would complement the existing free transit services offered to riders on the fixed-route T system from the airport.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3D3hK4F