President Biden is calling on state, territorial, and local governments to provide $100 payments to incentivize Americans to receive acoronavirus vaccine.
"Today, the President is calling on state, territorial, and local governments to provide $100 payments for every newly vaccinated American, as an extra incentive to boost vaccination rates, protect communities, and save lives," the U.S. Department of Treasurysaidin a statement. "Treasury stands ready to give technical assistance to state and local governments so that they may use the funds effectively to support increased vaccination in their communities."
The move comes as thevaccine rolloutin America has slowed despite a recent rise case counts and hospitalizations in certain parts of the country.
About 57.1% of Americans of all ages have been fully vaccinated, though herd immunity isconsideredby experts to be at least 75% vaccinated of any community.
These incentives provide alternatives to state officials imposing vaccine mandates, an idea that has been floated to mitigate the resurgence of cases amid theDelta variant.
According to theCDC, 99.2% of COVID-related deaths since the beginning of the year have been among unvaccinated Americans.
Governors have begun requiring state employees to get vaccinated, and President Biden isexpectedto implement similar guidelines for federal employees.
Some states have taken their own measures to incentivize their residents to get vaccinated.
In Colorado, residentscan now get$100 Walmart gift cards if they get vaccinated at certain locations throughout the state. Other states areofferingcollegescholarshipsto students between the ages of 12-17 who get their COVID-19 vaccines.
And at least in some case, the incentives have worked: In Columbus, Ohio, residents can now get $100 for getting vaccinated. According to thecity's health department, this led to a 288.5% increase in vaccinations just in the first week.