COVID-19 Tasmania: consumers call for clearer communication around vaccine rollout

It comes after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission revealed almost half of the complaints it had received about scams relating to the vaccine turned out to be legitimate communications.

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In its submission to a parliamentary committee investigating vaccine-related fraud and security risks, the ACC said there was no central place where a consumer could check if a communication they received was legitimately from the government.

Health Consumers Tasmania chief executive Bruce Levett said feedback showed vaccine communication had been problematic, with Tasmanians seeking greater consistency.

"What we are seeing is the state government picking up where the federal government is falling down," he said.

"The federal government hasn't been able to deliver a vaccine rollout in a way they promised and the states are picking up the slack."

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Mr Levett said when the AstraZeneca advice changed, many consumers were left confused and without adequate resources.

"Suddenly really quickly the messaging changed, and I don't think the government explained that particularly well. It created a lot of confusion in the market," he said.

"That's an example where the consistency in messaging hasn't worked."

With Tasmania on track to become one of the first jurisdictions to have its entire population fully vaccinated, Public Health Association of Australia state president Dr Kim Jose said moving forward people would look for more direct communication.

"At the moment it's broad brush," she said.

"If we get to a point where we have 70 per cent of the population vaccinated, but there's small pockets who haven't, that's when we would liked to see more targeted messaging."

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