Pilot program finds cash cards helped encourage vaccinations in several underserved communities

Offering a $25 incentive for the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine increased uptake, as well as vaccine interest, particularly among residents of underserved communities, a small pilot study in North Carolina found.

Initiation of COVID-19 vaccination increased 46% at clinics in the four counties with the intervention in June versus a baseline period of earlier in the spring, despite declining 10% at other sites in those four counties, reported Charlene Wong, MD, of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services in Raleigh, and colleagues.

Moreover, in a survey of 401 vaccine recipients, those of Hispanic origin identified the cash incentive as being more important compared with white individuals (OR 2.00, 95% CI 1.05-3.79), as did those with income less than $20,000 versus those with income of $60,000 or more (OR 2.36, 95% CI 1.25-4.44), the authors wrote in a research letter in JAMA Internal Medicine.

They added that a guaranteed cash incentive may be more likely to drive vaccination uptake rather than lotteries, noting that these incentives "can offset costs related to lost wages, transportation, and childcare." ...