U.K.’s Vaccinated Youth Are Offered Clothes, Holiday Vouchers
U.K.’s Vaccinated Youth Are Offered Clothes, Holiday Vouchers
(Bloomberg) --
The U.K. is stepping up its efforts to encourage young people to come forward to take Covid vaccines, with a host of companies offering rewards for those who get a jab.
The offers were announced the day after the government said all 16- and 17-year-olds in the U.K. would be offered the jab by next week. The nation is hoping to increase vaccination rates among younger Britons to significantly reduce transmission and protect the population from potential “long-Covid” symptoms.
The incentives, which include gift cards at holiday website lastminute.com and clothing vouchers for the Asda supermarket, will join those due to be offered by Deliveroo Plc and Uber Technologies Inc.
They are mainly designed to appeal to students and other young people. Data published by the Office for National Statistics this month showed the rate of vaccine hesitancy for those aged 18 to 21 was 5%, rising to 11% among those aged 16 and 17.
Monday also marks a change in policy for the U.K. which the government will hope will further encourage take up of jabs.
From today, more than 40 million fully-vaccinated adults, as well as under 18s, will no longer be legally required to self-isolate if they come into contact with a coronavirus case. Instead, people identified as close contacts by the test-and-trace program will instead be advised to take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test while remaining free to go to work and school as normal.
“The requirement for double-jabbed and under-18s who are contacts of people with Covid-19 has been removed as we cautiously take another step back towards normality,” Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said in a statement.
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