Asda, lasminute.com and more offer incentives for Brits to get Covid vaccine

Young people in the UK are being offered shopping discounts and holiday vouchers in a bid to boost vaccination numbers against coronavirus.

More than three quarters of British adults are now vaccinated, but the government is hoping to encourage more young adults to come forward for both jabs. 

Ministers are concerned about slow vaccine uptake among younger Brits, with businesses offering incentives in a bid to get more people coming forward.

Asda, lastminute.com, National Express, Free Now taxis and Better leisure centres are among those offering incentives to encourage younger people to get vaccinated.

Uber, Bolt and Deliveroo have already said they will offer discounted rides and meals for customers who get a Covid-19 jab, to help boost vaccine uptake.

Some of the rewards include £30 gift cards towards holidays and £10 vouchers for Asda’s clothing brand George. 

Meanwhile, Free Now is giving free taxi rides to over-18s getting the jab and National Express is offering travel passes.

Better leisure centres are offering over-16s £10 vouchers and three-day passes to centres.

Health secretary Sajid Javid said: "The requirement for double-jabbed and under-18s who are contacts of people with Covid has been removed as we cautiously take another step back towards normality, thanks to the phenomenal success of our vaccine rollout.

"Vaccines are what will bring this pandemic to an end – with over 84,000 lives already saved and 23 million infections prevented. Please come forward to receive your jab as soon as you can to protect yourself and the people around you.”

A final push to get young people vaccinated has come as the rules change around self-isolation for fully vaccinated people.

As of August 16, those with both jabs no longer have to self-isolate if they come into contact with a positive coronavirus case but have no symptoms.

If they do get symptoms and test positive for coronavirus, they will have to isolate as normal.