Editorial: Generous incentives for vaccine uptake

The Sir John Key method for defeating Covid included cash in the hand for being vaccinated. Photo / Andrew Warner, File

EDITORIAL

Two items in the five-point plan from former prime minister Sir John Key outlined in last week's Herald on Sunday were incentives for being vaccinated, and a further one was a disincentive for not doing so.

Much of the conversation has focused on the language Key used around his star-shaped strategy - calling the New Zealand Covid strategy "the North Korean option" and our situation a "smug hermit kingdom" which is "ruled by fear".

Hyperbole aside however, Key's ideas to reward "Māori and Pacific health providers" for every person they vaccinate and giving everyone "a $25 voucher of their choice" for being vaccinated before December 1 would appear to have merit.

Likewise, Key's suggestion of allowing only vaccinated people into licensed premises as a disincentive might also prompt some uptake.

It's a sad reality that some people need rewarding for doing what can only be described as the right thing.

Several New Zealand businesses are encouraging more than 25,000 staff to get vaccinated via incentives of prizes, $100 cash, $200 donations to charities and extra holidays.

The Te Tai Tokerau - Northland District Health Board is giving away thousands of dollars of prizes, including two Cook Island Holiday packages worth $6000 each; two New Zealand holiday packages worth $4000 each and three $3000 Northland weekend getaways.

A Labour Day draw will have a $3000 Northland weekend getaway; two Apple iPhones; four Apple watches, an e-bike and $150 fuel card.

Incentives aren't new. Some US states were giving jabbed people a voucher for a beer. Beijing offered eggs, chicken wings, tissues, flour, cash prizes and free entry into parks. Goldsmiths in the Indian city of Rajkot, Gujurat, worked together to give women free gold nose pins for getting the jab, while men were offered a hand blender.

For most of us, naturally, there's no need for a gold pin or a glass of ale. Lessening the chances of dying or becoming seriously ill - or giving such a fate to others - is enough motivation to be vaccinated.

But, as we attempt to vaccinate beyond those well informed and most willing, more cajoling will be needed.