Prizes and rewards for vaccinated people top $100,000, with airlines, insurers, and pubs urging Australians to get the jab

• Businesses are now offering over $100,000 in prizes and rewards to vaccinated Australians.
• New site Big Vax Bonus aggregates jab incentives from major companies like Qantas through to local pubs.
• Private enterprise is pushing for more Australians to get vaccinated against COVID-19, with the federal government saying restrictions will wind down once 70% of Australians are jabbed.

Over $100,000 in prizes and rewards are now on offer to Australians vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a new website aggregating incentives from companies attempting to boost the national jab rate.

Big Vax Bonus, a new initiative from group discount site One Big Switch, collates discounts and offers from private companies cleared to encourage COVID-19 vaccination.

The biggest single offer comes from Qantas, which this month announced it will provide 10 fully-vaccinated travelers with a year’s worth of travel and accommodation. Those prizes are valued at around $85,000, the airline states.

Other players in Australia’s embattled tourism and travel sector dot the Big Vax Bonus list.

Virgin Australia’s promised VA-X and Win scheme appears on the list, as does Luxury Escape’s offer of $200 travel vouchers to those who can prove full vaccination.

Health insurers dot the site, with AIA Health offering reward points which can be redeemed for discounts at partner companies, and Medibank giving away points redeemable for gift cards.

In-house offerings, like Telstra’s pledge to provide fully vaccinated staff with store points valued at $200, also make the cut.

So too do local players like Port Melbourne’s Prince Alfred Hotel and Sydney’s Lord Gladstone Hotel, aka the ‘Lord Jabstone,’ both of which are offering free drinks to vaccinated punters.

The list of prizes is likely to balloon as the tourism, retail, and arts industries drive national vaccination rates to 70% — the point at which the federal government says Australia should step down its reliance on strict lockdowns and border closures.

While the plan remains heavily contested by states and territories wary of heightened infection rates, industry players say high vaccination rates are key to resuming business as usual.

Speaking to the Australian Financial Review, Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci suggested reaching those targets by late November would be feasible for much of NSW.

Daniel Agostinelli, CEO of sneaker powerhouse Accent Retail Group, said his firm planned to reopen in most states from November 1.

As of Saturday, 34.2% of eligible Australians over 16 have been fully vaccinated.

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