Bloomberg Law: As Vaccine Incentives Flounder, Messaging Revamp Called Critical

From Bloomberg Law: A Biden administration push for states to pay low-income residents to get the Covid-19 shot is clashing with research findings that certain financial incentives are largely ineffective—leaving government officials on the line for new ways to bolster vaccination numbers. States across the nation have offered up gift cards, lottery tickets, and other perks to nudge the vaccine hesitant to get the jab. The Medicare agency is encouraging states to do more, greenlighting funds to create incentives for recipients of the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs. But research from academics at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago shows that states with and without incentives have similar vaccination trends. “Many people who had already intended to get vaccinated had done so already,” said Harsha Thirumurthy, associate director of University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics who led the research. Now, the government is using rewards to try to “change the behavior” of those who distrust vaccines because of misinformation or other reasons, he said. Read the full story at Bloomberg Law.