The Entrance MP, David Mehan, has thrown his support behind a call for extra Dine & Discover vouchers to be provided as an incentive for receiving a COVID-19 vaccination.
NSW Shadow Health Minister, Ryan Park, urged the State Government to work with the Federal Government to provide vaccination incentives.
“I have once again written to the NSW Health Minister and put forward a concept of incentivising residents to get vaccinated by giving those who get fully vaccinated additional Dine & Discover Vouchers to use in local businesses which in turn helps stimulate the economy,” Park said.
“Our vaccination rollout is simply going (too slowly); we need to dramatically increase the number of people getting vaccinated and this measure will help to do just that.
“The Dine & Discover vouchers have been very popular, which makes them a perfect incentive to increase vaccine rates.
“What’s more, the system is already set up, so this could be implemented very quickly.
“We don’t even have 20 per cent of the population vaccinated and if the Premier wants to get to 70 per cent before we are supposedly able to open up and begin to live our lives with some normality again then, clearly, we are going to have to look at other options.
“We are told every day that there is plenty of AstraZeneca and a lot more Pfizer on the way so let’s look at rolling out an incentive to get people vaccinated as soon as possible.”
Mehan said the idea was a great way to encourage people to vaccinate sooner rather than later.
“It will also put money back into our community,” he said.
“Compared to other incentives being discussed, this is probably the simplest and most easy to implement.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Labor Party has launched a petition calling for a $300 cash vaccination incentive, with details available on the party website.
Terry Collins