UK university offers £5,000 to fully vaccinated students

In a bid to reach out to more young people, the UK government has been thinking of creative ways to encourage young people to get vaccinated against coronavirus.

In such an attempt, the University of Sussex has come up with one of the best incentives that one could think of university students — a cash prize.

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The university officials have decided to offer students a chance to win £5,000 if they manage to get fully vaccinated against coronavirus before the start of the academic year.

This news came as the UK government announced that the 16 and 17-year-olds will be eligible for a vaccination against coronavirus.

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Taking the order further, the University of Sussex wants to give students a "normal university experience", and has therefore asked all attendees to get fully vaccinated against the virus before the start of the new session.

However, the university has not made vaccines compulsory, the officials are urging students and all staff members to get vaccinated.

All students will be entered into a lucky draw and 10 winners will be able to claim £5,000 prize each, but only if they have had both the doses of Covid vaccine.

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"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," Adam Tickell, the University's Vice-Chancellor said.

From now on, all 16 and 17-year-olds will be eligible to get vaccinated once they are contacted by NHS. However, 18-year-olds can get vaccinated without waiting for NHS’ approval.