‘This is about reclaiming our own lives’: New vaccine ad to inspire hope

A new campaign is using the power of positivity to encourage people to get vaccinated 

With Australia falling significantly behind its vaccine targets, a new video campaign is trying out a slightly different and more positive tactic to get people into clinics.  

Created by the Victorian Council for Social Services (VCOSS), the ad uses real people to talk about the things they are looking forward to when life gets back to normal. 

This includes everything from a nurse not having patients die from COVID, a woman having friends and family travel from overseas to attend her wedding, to a young girl having friends and family watch her sports games on the weekend.

It follows the release of a federal government ad showing a young woman with coronavirus struggling to breath in a hospital bed – a campaign later criticised for leaning into scare tactics and for focusing on a group who are still not eligible for the recommended vaccine. 

Emma King, the CEO of VCOSS, said the new ad wasn’t about offering medical advice, it was about highlighting the positive benefits of getting vaccinated. 

“As a peak body, VCOSS can’t increase vaccine supply or get ‘needles into arms’,” King said. 

“But we can help get people into vaccination centres.”

She said that in a time where millions of Australians were still in lockdowns, spreading a message of hope and positivity was critical. 

“There are lots of people who are feeling really sad and lonely, and that’s why we need to offer hope,” she said. 

“While getting vaccinated so we don’t catch COVID is important… this is about reclaiming our own lives and all the things we took for granted like hugging your mum, or seeing your grandkids.”  

The ad is available in nine languages: Arabic, Dari, Dinka, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Karen, Simplified Chinese and Vietnamese. VCOSS said it was committed to working with frontline service organisations to share it through migrant, refugee and culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

Copyright has also been waived by VCOSS, making the advert available to any media organisation, website, publisher, business or individual who wishes to use it, in any way.

“We urge everybody to share this video,” King said. 

Find out more about the ad here.