Kristen Gyles | Is ‘dangling the carrot’ approach increasing vaccine hesitancy?

Want an all-expense paid vacation trip to Paris? Get vaxxed! Need a new car? An extra $50,000? Get vaxxed! Need help paying your school fees? Go ahead, get vaxxed! Feeling thirsty and want a free drink? Get vaxxed! Ladies and gentlemen, you name it, we’ll provide it, as long as you’re vaxxed!

Is this approach helping or hurting?

Across the world, governments have been coaxing their citizens into getting the COVID-19 vaccine. When social pressure and television ads of smiling women pointing gleefully at their injected upper arms didn’t work, then the government incentives came pouring in. Now some countries are moving beyond the approach of vaccine incentives to a more autocratic calling in of the ‘big guns’. That is, threats of unemployment and geographical and social restrictions.

Nevertheless, most governments have not made this transition and are still dangling incentives in people’s faces to lure them towards getting the COVID-19 vaccine. I am convinced this approach has had the very opposite effect of what was intended, and here is why:

OFFERING INCENTIVES

In numerous states across the United States (US), incentives have been offered to attract the vaccine hesitant towards getting vaccinated. Less than two weeks ago, US President Joe Biden impressed upon state governors to offer $100 cash incentives to persons who get vaccinated. That ship had long set sail anyway, because many states had already gone ahead of Biden in offering dazzling prizes to those who are vaccinated.

In Ohio, for example, the Vax-a-Million campaign saw vaccinated adults each getting the chance to win one of five $1-million cash prizes – just for getting vaccinated. Easy, right? So it seemed, since the rapid decline in the vaccination rate significantly slowed following this clever tactic. And then, things went back to normal. Unsurprisingly, once all the people who weren’t sure if they were on the river or on the bank dived in for the cash, that was it – there was no one left to convince. In any case, the state made a big catch, since vaccinations had increased.

This wasn’t the only US state that tried the dangling carrot tactic, though – but it is perhaps the most controversial since researchers are still trying to determine whether the alleged 45 per cent uptick in vaccinations was due to the incentives or to a simultaneous widening of eligibility requirements for the vaccine. After all, in almost all other US states where a similar approach was used, vaccination rates barely moved. Currently, both researchers and government administrators are scratching their heads trying to figure out why.

The incentives were very lucrative.

In Maryland, earlier in June, a lottery of $2 million was announced for its vaccinated citizens. Also, the ‘joint for jabs’ campaign in Washington offered free marijuana joints to vaccinated adults over the age of 21. At the beginning of July, California announced the winners of six ‘dream vacations’ to be claimed upon becoming fully vaccinated. This was in addition to $1.5 million cash prizes to 10 other, even luckier, vaccinated winners within the state.

Numerous other states have put in place equally creative incentives and with numerous companies chiming in too, the vaccinated have hit the jackpot … literally. For example, the Connecticut Restaurant Association launched the #CTDrinksOnUs campaign which saw participating restaurants offering free drinks to vaccinated customers.

Countries across the world have followed suit. Thailand and Indonesia, for example, launched cow raffles and gave away livestock to incentivise vaccinations, and in Moscow, Russia, the vaccinated also had the chance of winning one of five ‘giveaway’ cars per week.

Frankly, I think it should be obvious that if someone only needed a free ice cream cone to sway them towards getting the vaccine, they would have got it anyway. Maybe two weeks or two months down the line, but essentially, all that has happened is that governments, including our very own, have spent a tidy sum to have persons make up their minds a little faster. That’s fine – as long as that’s understood. This tactic is not actually swaying the hesitant.

PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACTS

Consider that aside from the obvious short-term nature of the effects these incentives were always likely to have, the psychological impact of the incentives has also cemented for many hesitant people an overwhelming scepticism that now governments are going to have to contend with. Since governments started rolling out incentives, many persons have begun surmising that they were being bribed to take the vaccine. Perception is one hell of a thing that governments are still yet to address.

So, besides spending a collective hundreds of millions of US dollars on incentivising the hesitant to take the vaccine, the US government is likely to have also estranged a number of persons from the prospect of actually taking the vaccine. It’s very unclear and will perhaps remain unclear how many persons, if any, have now been vaccinated who had originally decided against being vaccinated.

The whole tactic is especially questionable in a country like Jamaica where there has been a consistent shortage of vaccines. The Jamaican Government announced in June that persons over 60 were eligible for a $10,000 grant once they got vaccinated. Again, Jamaica has vast numbers of persons who want to get vaccinated and simply have not got the chance. To jump to the conclusion of the population being largely hesitant is a bit premature.

Even then, persons who actually are hesitant will not be swayed by a measly $10,000. Or a free trip to Devon House. The Government will have to actually put in the work of engagement and allow two-way dialogue between itself and both the ‘anti-vaxxers’ as well as those who simply have medical and other concerns. Such a conversation is likely to end in some form of negotiation or compromise, but even for the Government, this is better than tyres burning in the streets or a repeat of the Ralph Gosalves incident. The Jamaican Government, I believe, is counting the cost, and wisely so. This is why it has not gone the route of mandatory vaccines as the untempered have been suggesting, but nevertheless, throwing cash at the unvaccinated may just turn out to be a big waste of state resources.

Kristen Gyles is a graduate student at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus. Email feedback to kristengyles@gmail.com.