Tamworth locals throw support behind Labor Party plan to pay $300 to encourage people to get vaccinated

The Leader spoke to half-a-dozen random residents on Peel Street, all of whom gave the idea the tick.

Few are as invested in getting national vaccination rates up as Andrew Lambert.

Mr Lambert said he is allergic to an ingredient in flu vaccines that is also present in the coronavirus vaccines.

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His health is therefore reliant on everyone else getting the jab to keep him safe - but he's not confident Australians will actually be vaccinated to a rate, estimated at about 80 per cent, to guarantee herd immunity.

"I'm not confident in who's running the country," he said.

Government should consider the idea of a payment incentive because it would encourage poor people to get protected, Mr Lambert said

"It probably would [work] for the low socioeconomic people but for the wealthy people or the middle class it probably wouldn't make a difference," he said.

"If you're a millionaire, if you don't want to get [a vaccination injection], you're not going to get it. But if you're low socioeconomc, if they give it to you on the Basics Card, compared to cash, it really depends."

London Wilkinson said the idea would work - but people should think about others first.

"I suppose it'd entice more people to do it, but you shouldn't have to pay them for their own health," he said.

"It's a hell of an incentive for someone to go and get vaccinated. I'm sure that'll get more people going to get it done."

Elise Kinsey said it wouldn't make a difference to her personally, because she wants a vaccination as soon as possible anyway - to the degree that she is considering getting the AstraZeneca jab.

"A lot of people just want to get vaccinated, it doesn't matter about the cost," she said.

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