• Australia’s chief medical officer will not rule out a lottery or other novelty incentives to drive the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination rate.
• The US state of Ohio has launched a $US1 million lottery, open to vaccinated Americans, in an attempt to boost vaccination rates.
• Discussing potential incentives on Monday, Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said “all of these things are potentially on the table.”
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

Australia’s chief medical officer has not ruled out holding a cash lottery to encourage people to get a COVID-19 vaccination, as debate rages over how and when the nation should reopen its international border while large portions of the population remain unvaccinated.

Speaking in Canberra on Monday, Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly encouraged eligible Australians to book a vaccination appointment as soon as possible, saying high levels of immunity are “crucial” to reach “post-COVID normal society.”

But while vaccine take-up in nations like the UK has been extremely high, some surveys suggest hesitancy among several key demographics may be slowing Australia’s journey to widespread immunisation.

Kelly suggested low levels of community transmission in Australia may have concealed the threat posed by COVID-19, whereas widespread suffering caused by the virus led Britons to seek vaccination en masse.

“It is a little bit more distant for Australians because we really, other than the Victorian second wave last winter, we really haven’t had that experience, as is the case in almost every other country in the world,” Kelly said.

When pressed on novelty incentives to drive vaccination rates — like the US state of Ohio holding a $US1 million lottery for vaccinated Americans — Kelly said “I think all of these things are potentially on the table.”

“But I think the main incentive is the one I have mentioned many times, about protecting your own health, not
sitting there, waiting for an outbreak,” he added.

“Because once an outbreak is here, if it comes, it will be very difficult for us to rollout masses and masses of vaccines quickly.”

Vaccine hesitancy, combined with supply chain logjams and the shock adjustment of Australia’s AstraZeneca vaccine rollout, means the government only plans to reopen Australia’s international border in mid-2022, at the earliest.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has advocated for domestic vaccine passports as a stop-gap measure before the international border is reopened, although several states have savaged the plan, saying focus should purely be on boosting vaccination rates.

Responding to a question about domestic vaccine passports, Kelly said Australia should deploy “as many incentives as we can for people to become vaccinated.”

Business groups including the Australian Chamber of Commerce have also drafted their own border reopening schemes, which they hope would allow hard-hit industries like the tourism and education sectors to safely rebuild from a year of border closures.

But with vaccination rates still lagging — and Monday’s detection of four COVID-19 cases in Melbourne — it appears health authorities are unprepared to make sweeping changes until there’s a significant growth in the number of vaccinated Australians.

“My messages very clear today,” Kelly said. “If you are in a group that has been offered the vaccine, please do not hesitate. Do not wait until the end of the year.”

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