Vaccine hesitancy in Queensland is the second highest in Australia after South Australia, and the vaccination rate is the second lowest after Western Australia.

The state government has been criticised in recent months for mixed messages about the AstraZeneca vaccine and for a lack of urgency in the earlier months of the rollout.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says one of the biggest lags is that the messaging is being lost in translation in multicultural communities, which has been an issue in Sydney and Melbourne.

She says a multilingual ad blitz on social media, television and radio will help boost vaccine uptake among people who speak English as a second language.

“We need everyone to get vaccinated, so I’m doing a big shout out to all of our wonderful multicultural groups as well that I want you to come forward and put your name down and do the right thing as well and get vaccinated,” Palaszczuk told reporters.

“We’ve seen in parts of Melbourne and of course in Sydney, where there have been some slow uptake from our multicultural communities getting vaccinated.

“Well we’re going to make sure that definitely does not happen here in Queensland.”

Federal government figures show 44.1 per cent of eligible Queenslanders have had one dose and 25.7 per cent of people have had the second dose.

The University of Melbourne’s vaccine hesitancy tracker shows 26.27 per cent of eligible Queenslanders are still delaying getting the jab.

Another 90,000 registered to get a vaccine in the 24 hours to 6am on Thursday, taking the waiting list to 190,000 people.

Palaszczuk said with the state recording no new cases of COVID-19 in the community on Thursday, it was the best time to get the jab.

“This is this window of opportunity now to get more jabs into more arms, and my plea today is to people from multicultural communities to come out and get your vaccination as well,” she said.

“There may be some hesitancy out there, we’ve got some great leaders of our multicultural groups here today, we’ll be talking to them later and getting that message out to Queenslanders to come forward and get that vaccination.”

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young has also urged people over the age of 60 and 12-to-15 year olds with severe underlying health conditions and their families to get the jab.

She said pregnant women would also be prioritised in the rollout, while anyone aged between 18 and 59 should speak with their GP about getting the jab as well.