YOUNGSTERS could get cash if they sign up to get vaccinated, a minister suggested today.
Officials are searching for how best to persuade the 2.8million young Brits who haven’t come forward for their jabs to sign up.
Young Brits could get cash for coming forward to be vaccinated[/caption]
Free Uber rides and takeaways are on the cards alongside other vouchers and cinema trips to encourage them to get jabbed.
Uber is already offering discounts for jabbed Brits, and ministers are pushing ahead with plans to force venues like nightclubs to ask for vaccine passports to cajole people to get it too.
16 and 17 year olds will be offered the jab across the UK, it was confirmed this afternoon.
Even cash is on the table too, a minister suggested earlier.
Universities minister Michelle Donelan told Times Radio “there may be an element of government money attributed” to incentives.
And and when asked by Sky News whether the UK would follow the US – which has offered young people $100 to get the vaccine – Donelan replied: “We’ve looked at a variety of mechanisms to encourage young people”.
“I think the biggest incentive is to protect their own health and protect the health of their friends and their loved ones, we are seeing young people every day come forward and get vaccinated…
“But we’ll keep everything on the table and review all options for incentivising everybody to get the vaccine.”
She said the public should welcome any kind of initiative which helps more people come forward to get their life-saving vaccines.
Ministers haven’t revealed any details of any scheme for cash, or how Brits might be able to get their hands on it yet.
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Ministers are concerned that currently, only around 67 per cent of people aged 18-29 in England have received the first dose of a vaccine.
American President Joe Biden has called on states to offer $100 to citizens who haven’t taken up their jab offer yet.
Tory peer, and former M&S boss Lord Rose suggested youngsters should be handed £250 for getting the jab – which would be far more effective than ordering them to get a vaccine passport.
He said: “I’d give them 250 quid. Come in, jab in one hand, check in the other.”
The peer added: “I think if I was a young student and thinking about should I, shan’t I, and somebody offered me £250 to do something.
“The cost of the government is negligible, we’ve spent billions and billions and billions of pounds on this Covid crisis – what’s a few more bob get a few more people vaccinated?”
Joe Biden has urged states to hand out $100 to boost take-up[/caption]
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The news comes as it was confirmed today that all 16 and 17 year olds will be able to get jabbed too – as The Sun first revealed last month.
Youngstrs at sixth form and college will be able to get jabbed as part of a bid to curb Covid cases before schools return in September.
And kids who are over 12 can get the vaccine if they are vulnerable, or live with people who are.
