Studies reveal that people are more likely to be vaccinated if given incentives. According to Our World in Data data as of October 25, 2021, only 49% of the world received a single dose vaccination. As for the complete vaccine, only 37.7%. Therefore, perhaps this can be considered, to provide incentives for people who want to be vaccinated.
To convince more people, some US states have even started offering financial incentives, such as multi-million dollar lotteries. In fact, logically, a lottery only ends up in favor of a lucky few. Providing incentives for people who want to be vaccinated is not a new idea. In the past, financial incentives have helped spread the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in the UK.
Earlier this year, several survey experiments in the US found that a third of those who were not vaccinated would be interested in getting the shot if they were given a generous cash payment. Results from a two-week pilot program in North Carolina show that incentives can actually influence a person's interest in getting vaccinated.
The study began in four regions of the state, where some clinics guaranteed e-money containing USD 25 to anyone who came to get the COVID-19 vaccine or brought someone else to the clinic for their first dose.
In total, the clinic paid out nearly 3,000 cards to 1,374 people in just two weeks. Compared to clinics in the same country that did not offer financial incentives, those that did appeared to have more vaccine recipients during the study period.
Clinics that were not part of the pilot program saw their first dose of vaccination decrease by almost 10% in the two weeks of the study, while those that were part of the pilot program saw a 46% increase. When the researchers surveyed several patients who participated in the program, they found a large number of people were motivated by money.
Of the 401 vaccine recipients surveyed, 41% said e-money was an important reason for their vaccination, and this was especially true for those on low incomes. Nearly 10% of those surveyed said they would not get vaccinated if there was no such reward, and 15% of respondents said they waited to get a vaccine shot until they found a clinic that had e-money or other incentives.
"With vaccination rates lagging in areas of higher social vulnerability, small financial incentives should be considered in conjunction with other equity promotion strategies," the authors argue.
"Social incentives from e-money can also encourage people to help their friends and family get vaccinated as a strong motivator for those who are undecided about vaccination," added the authors.
After all, not everyone who is not vaccinated is against the vaccine. There are those who have doubts about vaccines but they are actively questioning whether it should be a COVID-19 vaccine or not. While many others are apathetic, meaning the vaccine isn't even on their minds. In this particular case, the researchers think that financial incentives can help turn indifference into enthusiasm. Likewise for young people who are not afraid of the COVID-19 virus, for example, maybe incentives will motivate them to get vaccines.
"With hundreds of millions of dollars spent accelerating COVID-19 vaccination, the findings of this study suggest that this strategy to scale up vaccination requires greater investment," conclude the researchers.
However, it is also difficult to say how well this program will work in other regions or countries. The study was published in JAMA Internal Medicine as published in Science Alert.