In a press conference on Friday, Swiss Health Minister Alain Berset said the government is set to offer a 50 franc voucher to anyone who persuades a vaccine holdout to get inoculated.
“This work of persuasion will be rewarded with a voucher worth 50 francs”, Berset said.
Switzerland has a new 50-franc note https://t.co/to3qmCp9K7 pic.twitter.com/mp44hbGD9c
— Bloomberg (@business) April 6, 2016
Though the exact nature of these vouchers has not yet been defined, “we can imagine they could be used in local businesses. But it will be up to cantons to set the details”, he noted.
The government will spend 150 million francs on this incentive, but according to Berset the investment is worthwhile, especially considering that 50 million francs is currently spent each week on Covid testing.
Berset said the idea would be put out for consultation with the cantons.
This measure is taken to encourage more people to get the shot, as Switzerland “has one of the lowest vaccination rates in Europe, according to Berset.
READ MORE: Covid-19 vaccines: Why is Switzerland lagging behind other EU countries?
The Health Minister also outlined the Federal Council’s strategy to boost the rate of vaccinations.
It includes a national “immunisation week” at the yet undetermined date and the use of mobile units — 170 new buses will be put into service in addition to the 50 already in circulation —to make access to vaccination easier.
READ MORE: Swiss 50 franc note named ‘banknote of the year’
These units would go everywhere where people congregate, “to the valleys, the village squares, in front of the football stadiums, in shopping centres”, Berset said.
As far as Covid certificate is concerned, the Federal Council will create a centralised electronic platform so that tourists, or anyone else vaccinated abroad, can apply for a Swiss Covid certificate.
It will be up to the cantons to issue them, he announced.
READ MORE: Canton-by-canton: How visitors can get Switzerland’s Covid certificate
The problem with the vaccine rate is the way that the government started the programme: publicly cautious, opt-IN instead of opt-OUT, the first line on the BAG website stressing how optional the vaccine was. If they’d been more openly positive about this from the beginning we wouldn’t be in this mess.
So now the Swiss government has taken to bribing citizens with tax payer money to take the jab. How nice of them to waste even more or our tax money.