Do incentives of cash or gifts for covid-19 vaccines work?
BY SOME ESTIMATES herd immunity from covid-19 will require 70-90% of the worlds population to be vaccinated. But in many countries, the proportion of people who say they will get a jab does not meet that threshold. In America, only 60% are willing. In the European Union, the average is 64%. To encourage greater uptake, some governments and employers have begun to sweeten the deal with cash or gifts for those who get inoculated. The Economist Today Hand-picked stories, in your inbox A daily email with the best of our journalism Sign up  The value of the loot on offer varies. In parts of Beijing, Sinovac jabs come with two cartons of eggs. Elsewhere in China chicken wings, flour or free entry to parks are available. In Rajkot, an Indian city, women are given gold nose pins and men are given hand blenders. Prize draws are popular too. One Thai town is offering cows to spur vaccinations. Hong Kongers could bag a flat worth $1.4m if they get a jab. Parents in New York can enter a draw on behalf of their children for a full scholarship to any public university or college in the state. Last month, a 22-year-old woman won $1m in Ohios vax-a-million lottery. West Virginias prize draw includes trucks and guns. Simpler offers of cash have also made an appearance. In Serbia, residents get 3,000 dinars ($30) for having their jabs. Some in America believe a heftier sum is needed. Economists and politicians including Andrew Yang and John Delaney, two former presidential candidates, have proposed incentives of up to $1,500. Similar incentives can work in health care. Small fees are common in medical trials and money has been shown to nudge people to donate blood, quit smoking, lose weight and monitor their blood-glucose levels. It can work for vaccination too. A study of teenage girls in England found those who were offered 45 ($64) were more likely to be inoculated against human papillomavirus. For one group, uptake more than doubled with the cash offer. Intravenous drug users in America were more likely to receive hepatitis B shots if offered an incentive. Cash also boosted tetanus-vaccination rates in Nigeria. But there are ethical considerations. People who need the money might be more swayed by covid-19 vaccine incentives than their richer peers. One American study, conducted at Boston University, suggests the reality is more complicated. Researchers tested the impact of $1,000, $1,500 and $2,000 incentives and though all three options boosted covid-19 vaccine uptake, there was no discernible difference between rich and poor. But participants were more likely to accept a jab for $1,500 than $2,000 and Republican voters were consistently less willing. That points to a different problem. The covid-19 pandemic is catnip to conspiracy nuts, and social media give them a place to air their theories. For people who question the safety of vaccines and the motives of officials, incentives can be interpreted as sinister bribes (the greater the sum, the greater the suspicion). On Twitter, thousands of users are already making that connection. Vaccine incentives are expensive. Some schemes have been back-dated so that those who had already been inoculated do not miss out. Incentives will no doubt entice some people to get a jab who would not have otherwise done so. But some of the money will be wasted on those who would have been jabbed anyway. It may be better spent allaying the concerns of the willing but worried: reassuring them that jabs are safe and ensuring that those who take time off work to be inoculated are compensated for wages lost.