The Canadian government has spent $9.9 million on social media advertising campaigns for COVID-19 vaccines since 2020.
Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) spent a total of $4.6 million on production costs and $5.3 million on advertising for the 12 campaigns, which were posted to Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Tiktok, Snapchat, and Pinterest between 2020 and 2024. The information was revealed following an Inquiry of Ministry from Conservative MP Ted Falk published on April 8.
The most expensive campaign was the “Ripple Effect” mass vaccination campaign in 2021, which cost a total of $1.8 million to promote on social media.
According to PHAC, the campaign was launched to “remind Canadians about the collective vaccination effort required to see a reduction in restrictions and public health measures.”
In 2021, PHAC also spent $1.5 million on a campaign to promote vaccine uptake among Canadian parents, $1 million to promote vaccine uptake among parents and children, and $927,000 on an “ask the experts” campaign to answer questions about why vaccines were important, how they work, and whether
they could impact fertility and pregnancy.Other advertising campaigns also focused on boosting vaccination in groups like infants ($564,000), young adults ($407,000), and Canadians aged 50 to 70 ($109,000). Spending on the campaigns totalled $851,000 in 2020, $7.3 million in 2021, $1.6 million in 2022, and $75,000 in 2023 so far.
While Mr. Falk had also requested a breakdown of the campaigns by the type of spending, such as graphic design, ad placements and celebrity endorsement fees, PHAC said that information is “not systematically tracked in a centralized database” and was thus not included.
PHAC Worked to Counter ‘False Statements’
According to PHAC’s 2021-22 Departmental Results Report, the agency ran the highest number of advertising and educational campaigns in its history that year, with 13 campaigns in total. The advertising focused on several public health issues around COVID-19, and involved an “array of communication tools to reach audiences such as website material, social media posts, and targeted outreach.”
That report said the agency had worked “diligently to counter false statements and misinformation” and to promote COVID-19 vaccination. The November 2022 report said at the time, more than 82 percent of Canadians had received their full primary series of COVID-19 vaccines.
“This incredible vaccination progress reflects PHAC’s commitment and leadership in promoting vaccine confidence and mitigating barriers to access, delivered through vaccine campaigns and communications to Canadians,” it read.
An Inquiry of Ministry from Conservative MP Michelle Ferreri in late
2023 found that Health Canada spent $132,000 on social media influencers to promote COVID-19 vaccines. The expenditures were related to “work by the agency including planning, material development, influencer outreach and liaison, update, content monitoring, evaluation, and as management of payments to influencers.”
Back in 2023, PHAC also shelved a plan it had to hire a social media intelligence company to collect data on vaccine-hesistant Canadians, with a spokesperson telling The Epoch Times that it chose not to proceed due to “other priorities.” The original notice said PHAC was seeking a consultant to “analyze the vaccine-related conversations on social media and PHAC social media initiative and campaign performance.”
According to Health Canada, as of February 2024, 16 percent of Canadians have received the most recent XBB. 1.5 COVID-19 vaccination.
