Australia’s vaccine rollout commander has not ruled out using vaccine incentives including cash, but will first rally the nation to receive jabs.
Labor wants to dish out $300 one-off payments to fully vaccinated people but Prime Minister Scott Morrison has rejected the plan.
Lieutenant-General John Frewen said all alternatives would be considered if incentives were needed to get people vaccinated later in the rollout.
“There’s cash, there’s the ideas of lotteries, all these things have been discussed,” the rollout commander said.
“But what is resonating with people right now really is being able to get back to the sort of lifestyle we used to enjoy.”
He cited international travel, ending quarantine and avoiding lockdowns as strong incentives, along with people knowing vaccination was the right thing to do.
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With demand still outstripping supply, enough Australians are coming forward for jabs without extra motivation at the moment.
Lieutenant-General Frewen signalled a looming shift in campaign strategy to a “national rallying” of people to be immunised.
“There has to be a collective national sort of sense of why vaccination is important so we’ll be moving to that,” he said.
Messages will be tailored to specific cultural and linguistic groups which may have higher levels of vaccine hesitancy or find it harder to book in for a jab.
“We will increasingly become aware of where there may be pockets of hesitancy or even where some parts of the country are moving more slowly than others,” Lieutenant-General Frewen said.
Australia has now vaccinated 20 per cent of its population aged 16 and over but continues to lag behind most of the world.
A record 213,947 doses were administered in the past 24 hours.
Case numbers in NSW remain stubbornly high as lockdowns in Sydney and surrounds roll on with 233 new local cases on Tuesday.
There were two deaths — including a man in his 20s who was at home — taking the national toll to 927.
Queensland recorded 16 new local cases but authorities fear the outbreak could spread further.
Mr Morrison continues to attack Labor’s $300 cash-for-jabs proposal, saying the $6 billion plan is akin to spraying money around like confetti.
“They think they need to bribe Australians to get vaccinated, so little do they think of their fellow Australians and their sacrifices,” he said.
The opposition argues the government has wasted taxpayer dollars on grants programs found to target Liberal and marginal seats.
