Celebrity vax push

EVERYDAY celebrities, like Ash Barty and Hugh Jackman, are needed for mass-market ad campaigns to convince hesitant groups to get the Covid-19 jab, communications experts say.

In Australia, four groups are emerging as the biggest roadblocks: adults aged between 50 and 69, those who are holding out for the Pfizer vaccine, those who are waiting to see the longer-term effects of all vaccines, and the hardcore sceptics.

Sydney University narratologist Associate Professor Tom van Laer said a targeted approach – headlined by believable role models – was needed to boost Australia’s overall vaccination levels.

“Ash Barty (pictured) just won Wimbledon. Get her on TV showing her taking the vaccine. That would be a massive deal. Hugh Jackman too,” Professor van Laer said.

“If they’re doing it, we can trust to do it too. That’s the subconscious logic we have.”

Just 42 per cent of Australian adults aged 50-54 have had one vaccine dose, despite being eligible since early May.

“We haven’t really done a terribly effective job at explaining how great these new vaccines are,” Professor van Laer said.

Advertising executive Dee Madigan suggested a positive message could be most effective for people of that age.

“You can either use fear or a positive emotion about helping the community or getting your life back to normal,” she said. “The 50-69 age group are close to the age where they are most vulnerable, so you could do a ‘protect your health’ message.”

Professor Peter Collignon from the ANU Medical School said this group was miscalculating the risks.

“If you’re aged 60 in Australia, your risk of dying if you get Covid-19 is roughly about one in 200. If you’re 50, it’s about one in 500,” he said.

“When we look at taking AstraZeneca, your risk of dying of that in Australia is about one in 2 million.”