Government Prepares $24M COVID Vaccine Advertising Push

Indigenous Australians, young women, and migrants will be targeted in information on the coronavirus vaccine when the government rolls out its $24 million advertising campaign.

According to Fairfax papers The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, campaigns targeting priority groups are being developed after research commissioned by the federal Department of Health late last year found women aged 30 to 39 were the most likely to hold concerns about the vaccine’s safety.

The survey of 1,000 people by Quantum Market Research reportedly found four in five Australians were likely to have the COVID-19 vaccine.

However, Quantum’s report said the level of concerns about vaccine safety, which was 27 per cent overall and 42 per cent of women in their 30s, showed there was “a need to dispel some specific fears held by certain cohorts of the community in relation to potential adverse side effects”.

Other advertisements are reportedly being developed for multicultural communities.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said $23.9 million would be spent on an information campaign that would explain the regulatory processes, the priority groups, timing and roll-out of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines.

“The vaccines will be voluntary and free, we encourage people to have the vaccine to protect themselves and their family,” Minister Hunt said.

“It is essential that people understand that Australia’s medical regulatory processes need to occur before the vaccines are approved for use.

“We are receiving data from overseas and this will assist in finalising the priority groups for the vaccinations, putting our health and aged care workers in the first wave along with elderly Australians who are at most risk from the virus.”

Minister confirmed separately that the Pfizer vaccine would be rolled out in February, pending Therapeutic Goods Administration approvals.

It is unclear which agencies will be responsible for developing creative for the vaccine information campaign, however, PwC has reportedly been signed by the federal government as the program delivery partner of the vaccines.

In 2019–20, the federal government spent a total of $127.9 million on all campaign advertising media placement, with $47.8 million spent by the Department of Health’s on its COVID-19 campaign.

Additionally, $2.5 million was spent by the Department if Foreign Affairs on its Smartraveller COVID-19 campaign, while Treasury spent $17.7 million for its campaign on its economic response to the pandemic.

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COVID-19 vaccines Department of Health