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Improving odds of herd immunity

Joints for Jabs? Snax for Vaxx? Chicken wings or a gold nose pin?

Around the world, countries are trying a multitude of creative incentives — from cows to cash — to coax the hesitant into getting COVID19 vaccinations.

A few examples:

• In China, people are being tempted with cartons of eggs, chicken wings, flour and free access to parks.

• One jurisdiction in India is giving out gold nose pins to women and hand blenders to men.

• A Thai town is organizing prize draws for cows.

• In the U.S., different states are offering an assortment of prizes, including draws for tickets to sporting and music events, scholarships, cash, mini-vacations and, in West Virginia, trucks and guns. Washington is handing out marijuana joints (Joints for Jabs) while Arizona is distributing edible cannabis and joints (Snax for Vaxx) to the newly vaccinated.

In Canada, Manitoba this week announced everyone fully vaccinated there would be entered into a $1.9-million lottery that will give out — in draws Aug. 2 and Sept. 6 — regional prizes of $100,000 for adults 18 and older and $25,000 scholarships for 12to 17-year-olds.

The rationale for all such incentives is straightforward.

To banish the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to achieve herd immunity — having a significant proportion of the population be immune to the virus, due to prior infection or vaccination.

We don’t yet know the exact percentage needed to get to herd immunity with this disease, but experts suggest it’s probably 70 to 90 per cent of everyone — more likely on the high side.

Most people have no qualms about immunization; in fact, they’re eager to get vaccinated to protect themselves and loved ones from COVID-19. But in many places, that group won’t be enough to achieve herd immunity. Hard-core vaccine resistance is found in a relatively small group; most of the remainder — dubbed the vaccine-hesitant — are ambivalent about getting immunized.

That’s where incentives come in.

There’s a range of opinions on incentives’ effectiveness, but there is strong evidence they can work. An Australian metastudy in 1998, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, reviewed nine international studies and found those who received incentives — both monetary and non-financial — three times more likely to get immunized, with overall rates 17 per cent higher than comparison groups.

Some jurisdictions pay people directly to get vaccinated, but experts say that’s problematic. Direct payments may heighten suspicion by looking like bribes. But lotteries that include everyone vaccinated, whether hesitant or not, don’t carry the same taint.

Incentives don’t have to be major to have an impact. Some suggest, for example, distributing gift cards under $100 that could be used at local businesses or donated to local charities, two sectors especially hard hit by the pandemic.

Canada is doing better than many countries, with at least 80 per cent of the population willing to be vaccinated. But if we need to reach a little higher to get to full herd immunity, incentives are worth a shot.

OPINION

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2021-06-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

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