Vaccination Payoffs Are Productive

A recent study published by the peer-review journal Nature found that promoting the existence of vaccination incentives had no negative consequences, such as reduced follow-on vaccinations.

Announced on January 11, 2023, these researchers offered study participants in a randomized, controlled trial about $24 to receive a first COVID-19 vaccine dose within 30 days. 

They found the small payment increased vaccination uptake by 4% points 30 days after the study ended.

And they found that paying people an initial incentive didn't lower the likelihood of seeking the second or third vaccine dose.

To complement their study's evidence from Sweden with evidence on the effects of large-scale incentive programs implemented by US state governments during the early stages of the pandemic.

In a pre-registered study in the USA (n = 3,062), participants randomly assigned to the incentives condition received detailed information about their state's COVID-19 vaccine incentive program.

In line with the evidence from Sweden, they found no negative impacts of being informed about incentive programs on the willingness of participants to take further doses, morals, trust in the state government, safety and efficacy perceptions of vaccines, or intentions to donate blood or to receive a flu shot.

The authors identified no adverse effects of financial incentives.

A real-world example took place in New York City in May 2021.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced incentives to encourage New Yorkers to get their COVID-19 vaccine, a free Shake Shack. The mayor 'chowed down' on a burger and fries as he introduced the promotion.

These researchers wrote, 'Despite its limitations, our study has a clear finding: offering modest financial incentives for vaccination has limited, if any, unintended negative consequences.'

'Contrary to prominent warnings in the academic literature and public debate, our work suggests that modest financial incentives for vaccination can be used without worries about grave unintended consequences.'

Disclosures: The Human Subjects Committee of the Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology at the University of Zurich approved the study protocols (2022-045). Lund University provided open-access funding, and no industry conflicts were disclosed.