Cayman Islands offer cash prizes in new vaccination raffle

SOURCE: CMC — The Cayman Islands Tourism Association (CITA) has offered the population a chance to win US$10,000, as well as 280 other prizes worth a total of US$15,000, as part of an initiative to encourage people to get vaccinated for COVID-19.

The CITA along with the charity R3 Cayman Foundation announced the prizes during a recent meeting of its members.

CITA president Marc Langevin said it was vital for it to reach its target of vaccinating 70 per cent or more of its population, so that the borders can reopen safely to tourists, and the tourism sector had a part to play in that by encouraging its employees to get inoculated as soon as possible.

Langevin said CITA has been asking its members to provide weekly updates on how many of their staff have been vaccinated, and that “right now, as an industry, we are at 75 per cent”.

He added that certain sectors within the industry had higher percentages than that, such as restaurants, which are showing a 90 per cent vaccination rate.

“It is your leadership that is creating those numbers. You have been leading by example.”

In a statement, the R3 Cayman Foundation said, “As part of our recovery mandate, we want to help our local tourism industry to recover from the tremendous job losses that have been caused by the pandemic so that those affected can regain employment and thereby provide for themselves and for their families.

“Assisting the jurisdiction to achieve a high vaccination rate by fully utilising the available vaccines resources is one way to achieve this, whilst at the same time protecting our community as far as possible from COVID-19.”

The prize draw is separate from the government’s ‘Vaccination Challenge’ version, which is also offering a wide variety of prizes for people who get their first vaccinations by June 9.

Earlier this month, when the local vaccination rate started to slow down, the government launched a ramped-up drive in a bid to ensure that all the remaining vaccines on the island, which are set to expire at the end of June, will be used by then.