[imagesource: YouTube / Telstra]

Social media is awash with people sharing their COVID-19 vaccine pictures.

I guess it beats pictures of food, or the passport and plane window combo shot.

Naturally, there are also loads of jokes about waiting for Bill Gates’ microchip to kick in and improved WiFi around the house, because some conspiracy theories are so absurd all you can really do is laugh.

No, they don’t make you magnetic either. Stop it.

As part of its campaign to encourage Australians to get vaccinated, telecommunications company Telstra has released a new ad poking fun at those nonsense theories.

The company has also announced benefits for fully vaccinated members of the company’s Telstra Plus loyalty program, and a draw where 20 winners will receive cash.

Ozzie satirist Mark Humphries leads the charge:

It’s okay to laugh, even if you’re not going to get the vaccine.

Here at home, Piet Rampedi has had a total meltdown following Nando’s taking the piss out of his ‘Tembisa 10’ story, sending literally hundreds of tweets asking people to boycott the chicken.

Hey, Piet, where are the decuplets?

Show us all that evidence you have.

Thought so.

There have been similar cries from Ozzies offended by the above advert to stop doing business with Telstra.

In response, via its website, company CEO Andrew Penn said:

We understand there are people who will choose not to get vaccinated or can’t for medical reasons. We’re encouraging people who want to receive the vaccine to do so.  We understand that it is everyone’s personal choice…

I believe all leaders can play a role by uniting behind an aligned approach to a pathway out. One that moves us beyond the problems preventing us from opening up, and instead focuses on the solutions.

We absolutely need a sense of hope right now and some light at the end of what has been a long, dark tunnel.

Go ahead and ask a reputable health expert how we somehow return to any form of normality.

You know what the answer will be.

[source:telstra]