Many Australians are used to getting promotional deals from businesses - but perhaps none like this.
With businesses getting the green light to offer incentives for customers getting the COVID-19 jab, Australians may soon be lured by free food or free flights with proof of vaccination.
Melbourne cinema group Classic Cinema is already offering free popcorn and choc-tops as part of its “‘Free Snacks for Vax” campaign.
Qantas is also looking at offering 1000 flight points, flight vouchers and a chance to win a year’s worth of free travel for anyone who’s vaccinated before the end of the year.
But many countries, some with rollouts way ahead of Australia’s schedule, have already pipped the offers Down Under - from live cows, university scholarships, to gold pins and even marijuana.
‘Joints for jabs’ in the United States
While almost half of all Americans are now fully vaccinated, the United States is still far away from achieving herd immunity, and there are concerns the rate of vaccination has slowed down since April.
In an effort to boost those numbers, American businesses and states have been offering bonuses including free beer, lotteries, guns, and even marijuana.
In Michigan and Arizona, those who showed a COVID-19 vaccination card have been offered free joints by private dispensaries.
In American tiny towns, ballparks, strip clubs, and marijuana dispensaries, officials are offering incentives to entice people who so far have not gotten shots. Source: Las Vegas Sun
In Washington, the six-day "joints for jabs" campaign allows people over 21 to get a pre-rolled joint at cannabis retailers if they receive a vaccination at an in-store vaccination clinic.
The vaccinated in Washington, Connecticut, and New Jersey also got access to free beer, wine and cocktails under a similar incentive scheme from some alcohol licensees.
Up to 50 full-ride public university scholarships are being offered to vaccinated teenagers in New York.
"If we want to defeat COVID once and for all we have to vaccinate every single New Yorker, and the 'Get A Shot to Make Your Future' incentive focuses on a key demographic with the lowest vaccination rates—our youth," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said.
In Ohio, vaccinations spiked by six per cent after a lottery with a $1 million prize was offered to the fully vaccinated, while in New York its "Vax and Scratch" lottery is offering a chance at winning $5 million for those who get their first jabs.
Hand blenders and gold nose pins in India
Lotteries have also been on offer in India: giving people the chance to win 5,000 rupees ($88) if they shared a picture of themselves on social media getting the jab.
In the Indian city of Rajkot in Gujarat, women are being offered free gold nose pins from local goldsmiths while men get a free hand blender. Elsewhere in the country, restaurants are offering free biryani and other snacks.
Villages with a 100 per cent vaccination rate in Madya Pradesh have reportedly been promised they could win 10 lakh rupees ($17,000).
Serbians who got the COVID jab before the end of May were handed 3,000 dinars ($40) as part of a bid by President Aleksandar Vucic to get three million vaccinated by the end of the month. Mr Vucic said it was a reward for “people who showed responsibility”.
A district of northern Thailand has launched a raffle campaign for its vaccinated residents to win a live cow in a bid to boost the local Covid-19 vaccination drive.
From this month, one lucky vaccinated villager in the Mae Chaem district of Chiang Mai province will be randomly chosen every week to win a young cow worth about 10,000 baht (A$415).
The campaign, set to run for 24 weeks, has been met with enthusiasm in the town of 43,000 since it was announced earlier this week.
"Our vaccine registration numbers have gone from hundreds to thousands in a couple of days," district chief Boonlue Thamtharanurak said.
"The villagers love cows. Cows can be sold for cash."
But will rewards work in Australia?
While the concept of incentives for the COVID-19 vaccine is new, disincentives for vaccine refusal are not.
For the past few years Australia has penalised parents who refused to vaccinate their child by withholding child care payments under the "no jab no pay" policy.
There have been been mixed reactions from experts on the efficacy of incentives: some say they’re a great idea, while others are hesitant about the costly precedent it could set.
Others say information campaigns to quell fears about vaccines are more effective in the long-term.
- With Reuters
