‘Know the facts. Get your vax’: Ford government issues ad campaign to encourage youth vaccinations

You’re going to start to see new advertisements from the Ford government encouraging young people to get vaccinated.

This new ad campaign, announced by the Premier’s office on Friday, features a very short video and no audio warning how unvaccinated people are far more susceptible of getting sick than those with virus protection.

“Unvaccinated people are 43 times more likely to be in the ICU compared to fully vaccinated people in Ontario,” one silent ad reads.

“Unvaccinated people are 24 times more likely to be in hospital compared to fully vaccinated people in Ontario,” reads the other ad.

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The Ford government says it’s hoping the black and yellow ads will pop out at people, specifically younger residents, to get a shot.

“Know the facts. Get your vax,” the ads say.

The ads will start running on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat as well as billboards and transit shelters. The ad campaign will run alongside a separate one educating Ontarians about the proof of vaccination system that kicks off next week, on September 22.

“Ontario’s unprecedented COVID-19 marketing campaign started by encouraging individuals to follow public health measures throughout the initial waves, after which it pivoted to encouraging people to get vaccinated,” a spokesperson for the Premier’s office said in a statement.

“Now, we want to make clear the dire consequences of deciding not to get the shot, namely a dramatically higher likelihood of those who are unvaccinated ending up in the hospital or intensive care unit.”

The government adds that if someone is vaccinated and gets infected, what’s called a “breakthrough case,” symptoms should be milder and have less severe health impacts.

The risk of needing to be hospitalized or admitted to the ICU is much less, they said.

“To help ensure Ontario continues down this positive path, these latest ads are designed to support our ongoing efforts to get as many people vaccinated as possible to protect our hospitals and broader health system.”

Ontario reported 795 new COVID-19 cases and five deaths from the virus on Friday.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says 582 of the infected people are not vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status.
She says 213 of the people are fully vaccinated.