Updated
Feb 01, 2021
Coronavirus vaccine hesitancy is surprisingly high among health care workers. Could cash incentives help?
Oak Valley Hospital District is offering its employees a $300 bonus to get vaccinated. The independent hospital in Oakdale, California, decided to implement a financial incentive after only 40% of its 600 employees initially turned up to get the shot. Since offering money to those who get the second dose of the vaccine, the hospital has reported a noticeable increase in the number of workers getting vaccinated.
The approval of COVID-19 vaccines may represent a huge stride in the battle against a virus that has killed more than 437,000 people in the U.S., but to work effectively to bring the pandemic under control means getting a large proportion of the population to take it. The logistics of conducting widespread vaccinations are staggering, and to make the challenge greater, many people are hesitant to take the vaccines including the health care worker
The health care network, which has multiple facilities in the Chicago area, is offering the cash bonus as an incentive to persuade staff members to take the COVID-19 vaccine.