Mr. Speaker,with regard to part (a), $45,477,174.55 was spent. All advertising costs reported include agency of record, AOR, and ad tech fees. Costs do not include HST, to align with the advertising costs reported in the Annual Report on Government of Canada Advertising Activities. Total costs reported include media placement costs that were submitted for the Government of Canada annual advertising reports, and taken from the advertising management information system, AdMIS. Costs do not include planning or production costs.
With regard to part (b), the safety of the vaccine was a key message in the broader campaign to encourage vaccine use. Costs for safety-specific ads cannot be separated, as these were integrated with other campaign messaging. The total advertisements cost is provided in response to question (a).
With regard to part (c), there was no spending on publicists.
With regard to part (d), $132,168 was spent in 2021-22 to plan and deliver a social media influencer campaign to help people in Canada make an informed decision about COVID-19 vaccines. Expenditures are related to planning, material development, influencer outreach and liaison, updates, content monitoring, evaluation and payments to influencers.