Local News

Cooper plans to create cash drawing to boost coronavirus vaccinations in NC

Gov. Roy Cooper is expected to announce Thursday a new cash drawing incentive in an effort to get more people vaccinated against coronavirus, WRAL News has learned.

Posted Updated

By
Adam Owens
, WRAL anchor/reporter, & Ali Ingersoll, WRAL investigative data journalist
RALEIGH, N.C. — Gov. Roy Cooper is expected to announce Thursday a new cash drawing incentive in an effort to get more people vaccinated against coronavirus, WRAL News has learned.

The program would be modeled after drawings in Ohio and several other states, a source close to the governor said. Anyone already vaccinated would be eligible, but details are still being worked out as to whether people would have to opt in or the state would use the statewide vaccination database to pick winners.

North Carolina has fallen behind the national pace of vaccinations, and that gap has grown wider in recent weeks. Only 54 percent of adults in the state have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, compared with nearly 64 percent nationwide, according to state Department of Health and Human Services data.

DHHS recently launched an experimental vaccination incentive program, offering $25 cash cards to people getting shots in four counties.

Mecklenburg County was one of the counties participating, and Health Director Gibbie Harris said the program "has proven to be fairly effective, probably even more so that we thought."

"All our locations where we have had cash cards available over the past week have seen significant increases," Harris said. “The week before last, we saw two people for vaccines, and last week, we saw over 40 in that same time frame."

“It does look like incentives work," said WRAL Investigative Data Journalist Ali Ingersoll, who looked at vaccination numbers in states with big cash incentives.

In Delaware, for example, Ingersoll said she found "a sharp, sudden increase" in shots around the time of that state's vaccination lottery, "and then it starts to go down again."

WRAL News compared their vaccination rates of states with incentives, which also include California and New York, to North Carolina's. Ohio has had a pretty similar trend, with both remaining below the national average. But Ohio's rate increased 4.2% since it opened a vaccination lottery on May 13, while North Carolina's increased only 3.1% during that time.

When looking at other states, Delaware jumped 4.7% since announcing its incentive program on May 25 – North Carolina's rate increased just 1.2% – and two days later, California's and New York's governors shared information about scholarship and lottery opportunities. Since then, those states' rates increased by 2.2% and 3.2%, respectively.

Stacy Wood, a marketing professor at North Carolina State University, co-authored a JAMA Network article about motivating people to get vaccines. Those who are apathetic about getting the shot can be moved by incentives, she said.

“It might be a lottery. It might be a free doughnut,” Wood said.

Connecticut and Louisiana offered people free drinks, while it was entry to a theme park in Illinois and a free marijuana joint in Washington state.

The chart shows the percent of populations that have received at least one dose

"It won’t work for the people who truly believe there is a risk to their health," Wood said. "I mean, nobody – even for a million dollars – is going to risk their health. But for all those people who say it’s not that big a deal, those are the people who might line up for a lottery ticket.”

Quick messages with immediate benefits can get people off the fence and in a vaccination clinic, she said.

“Something that says, in the moment, I am willing to take some time out to do this thing that I did not see as critical," she said. "This is a moment for pragmatism, a moment for getting the job done, and if this is what it takes, then this is what it takes.”

WRAL anchor/reporter Cullen Browder contributed to this report.

 Credits 

Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.