New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is offering $100 to residents willing to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
“It does not get better than that,” de Blasio said during a Wednesday press conference.
Beginning Friday, the city will hand out the money to anyone who goes to get their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at a city-run site, according to The Hill.
The $100 can be redeemed digitally, or residents can choose to receive a physical prepaid debit card in the mail, New York City Economic Development Corporation president Rachel Loeb explained during the press conference.
Mayor Bill de Blasio: Starting Friday, any New Yorker who goes to a city vaccination site and receives the shot, will get $100 pic.twitter.com/OnyZDPpQdv
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 28, 2021
De Blasio said the money will make a “big impact” in the city where “more and more things are going to be determined by whether you’re vaccinated or not,” The Hill reported. (RELATED: Louisiana To Offer Cash Prizes Up To $1 Million, Scholarships As Incentive For COVID-19 Vaccine)
According to data from New York City, more than nine million doses of the vaccine have been administered. Fifty-nine percent of New York City’s total population has received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 54 percent of residents have been fully vaccinated.
Despite over 70 percent of adults receiving the shot, the mayor says the vaccination rate is not enough and misinformation on the shot “has hurt.”
“What’s in all of our interest is to get every single additional person vaccinated,” de Blasio said at the press conference.
The announcement comes just days after de Blasio declared that all city workers are required to be vaccinated by Sept. 13 or be subjected to strict weekly testing protocols. Unvaccinated city employees will soon be required to wear a mask in their workplaces, de Blasio said Monday.
“We’ve talked the last few days about mandates, and there’s no question in my mind that mandates are a crucial part of the solution, and we’ll keep working on those,” de Blasio said. “But we also still believe in incentives. Incentives help immensely. Both go well together.”
Payment is the latest vaccine incentive pitched by the New York government. Others include subway MetroCards, memberships for cultural attractions, free Shake Shack, a lottery to win stays at local hotels and a $2,500 cash prize, according to Forbes.
The city is following in the footsteps of West Virginia, Maryland and Ohio, who already offer $100 for vaccinations to some residents. Other states have set up vaccine lotteries for those willing to get inoculated, Forbes added.
State-wide incentives are becoming more prevalent as cases of the delta variant are rapidly increasing across the U.S.