June 24, 2021: -A local social media app known as Nextdoor is looking to leverage community influencers to boost Covid-19 vaccine efforts in the U.S. as vaccination rates soften all over the country.

The app acts as a digital public message board for neighborhoods has teamed up with Moderna and Albertsons Companies grocery stores on a Covid-19 vaccine map, which launched on Tuesday.

The map will permit users to locate vaccination sites and schedule an appointment.

“One of the things we know about neighborhoods includes finding the right influencer is the key to get into that neighbor’s psyche and getting them to perhaps change their mind,” Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar told CNBC in an interview.

The step comes as the Biden White House announced it would not reach its goal of getting at least the first dose of coronavirus vaccine in the arm of 70% of American adults before July 4. While the administration is expecting to hit that mark for adults of 26 years or more, the shortcoming would exist in the younger adults.

In a survey of Nextdoor users, the private company found that 37% of its members would sign up to take a jab if they had access to more information and received encouragement, Friar said.

While traditional social media sites such as Instagram tend to leverage celebrity users as influencers, the more intimate Nextdoor app is planning to utilize hyperlocal people, like pastors or high school football coaches, to convince people to get vaccinated against the pandemic virus.

“It’s the people near and dear that are in local proximity to you, the people you trust, the people you talk to every day, and it’s often not about them telling you the ‘why to do it,” said Friar, who departed Square to join Nextdoor at the end of 2018.

According to the company, the app is used in above 11 countries and 276,000 localities worldwide, including almost 1 in 3 U.S. households.