Tampa Bay Times: To get shots in arms, governments turn to money in pockets

From The Tampa Bay Times: President Joe Biden is calling on states and local governments to join those that are already handing out dollars for shots. New York, the nation’s biggest city, started doling out $100 awards on Friday.

The president, health officials and state leaders are betting that the financial incentive will spur hesitant people to get the shot just as the highly contagious delta variant sweeps through parts of the country — particularly those with low vaccination rates — and as the number of daily inoculations falls sharply from its April high.

Incentives are not new: States have tried lottery-like giveaways, free beer, gift cards and more. Whether they result in getting more people vaccinated is not clear, said Harald Schmidt, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a research associate at the school’s Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics. Read the full story in Tampa Bay Times.