Calls for Australia to launch vaccine lottery to fix slow rollout

Calls for a lottery to encourage Australians to get vaccinated against COVID-19 are ramping up in an attempt to help fix the country's slow rollout.

Health Program Director at the Grattan Institute, Dr Stephen Duckett, proposed the idea of 10 prizes of $1 million as an incentive for getting vaccinated, totalling a $10 million prize pool.

Dr Duckett suggested to 3AW for the lottery to start in the first week of November, once everyone was eligible to get the vaccine.

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"By October, we should have plenty of supply, so everyone who wants the vaccine should be able to get the vaccine," he said today.

"People should be rewarded for being vaccinated and it would encourage them to speed up their vaccination appointments."

The lottery could also include Australians who were vaccinated earlier, to ensure people were not waiting for the prize scheme to start.

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"We just really need to get some excitement into it, to really tug at our heartstrings and say you need to be stepping up," Dr Duckett said.

"You don't have to do anything except what you should be doing anyway, which is getting vaccinated."

The idea follows a lottery in the US that offered $6.7 million as an incentive to get vaccinated.

The lottery saw vaccination rates rise by 49 per cent.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton last month backed the suggestion of a vaccine lottery.

"I'm in favour of the lottery. I think it's a great idea," Mr Dutton told Today.

It comes as Australia's biggest lottery provider Tabcorp said it would be willing to host a draw to encourage people to get the jab.

"The only two flaws which the company has identified is they need regulation approval and someone to pay for it. So apart from that, it seems like a sound proposal," Mr Dutton said.

"Anything to incentivise people to get vaccinated I'm in favour of."

More than 11 million vaccine doses have been administered in Australia.