Jahd Khalil reports “Advertising will continue to increase to help Virginians understand how to schedule an appointment and to encourage those who have not yet scheduled their shot,” Brookie Crawford, a spokesperson for the department ,wrote in an email. In March the entire month’s spend was $531,509. Slightly more than half, $277,113, was spent on the Vaccinate Virginia campaign launch, and the rest on a statewide COVID-19 campaign with vaccination messaging. In April VDH spent $678,030 as of April 21st, a marked increase from March. The department spent $402,016 on the Virginia Vaccinate campaign, and also spent $131,421 targeting young adults. June West, a professor at University of Virginia’s business school said the first focus of any campaign is the message, and the second is the audience.