Australia has released new television commercials aimed at promoting the COVID-19 vaccine – but it hasn’t been welcomed by citizens

Australia’s Health Minister says a confronting coronavirus ad depicting a woman on the verge of death is deliberately hard to watch.

The 30-second clip of a woman who looks to be in her 20s or 30s gasping for air on a hospital bed, was filmed last year, but the federal government held off running it as no outbreak was deemed serious enough to warrant it.

The government has been forced to defend the ad reminiscent of the “Grim Reaper” HIV ads in the 1980s, after it prompted a backlash over claims it was too confronting.

A more temperate series of ads, depicting arms on ordinary Australians with the moniker “Arm Yourself”, began last week, but Health Minister Greg Hunt said the escalating situation in Sydney called for a more explicit response.

Younger Aussies still not eligible to get the jab

The age of the woman in the ad has sparked controversy, with most younger Australians still ineligible to receive their vaccine.

Currently over 10 people hospitalised in Sydney are under 35.