University offers £5,000 prize for double-jabbed students

STUDENTS are being offered cash prizes if they can prove they have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in an effort to drive take-up of the jabs.

All students at Sussex University are being entered into a draw, with 10 winners receiving £5,000 if they can prove they are double jabbed or they are medically exempt.

Prof Adam Tickell, the university’s vice-chancellor, denied the move amounted to “bribing” students to get vaccinated. The prize draw will take place at the end of November to allow students time to get vaccinated.

“We’re going to automatically enter every student in, unless they have said they want to opt out. After we’ve given them the opportunity to have vaccines – this will be about 12 weeks after the announcement – we’ll just randomly choose 10 names,” Prof Tickell told BBC

Radio 4’s Today. “We’re not bribing them. What we’re doing is we’re just giving an incentive.”

Prof Tickell said the university hoped to give students an experience “as close as possible to normal” when they return after the summer, with teaching taking place in person.

He said: “We know that many students will have already had their vaccines or are planning to. If we can boost those numbers even slightly through a simple intervention like this, then, of course, we are going to do so.

“Whilst these are significant prizes for our students, the cost to the university is small compared with the human, social and financial cost if students were to experience the kind of disruption we faced last year.”

Michelle Donelan, the universities minister, said: “I encourage all eligible students to take up the offer of both vaccine doses.”