Health Workers and Emergency Responders Offered Incentives to Get COVID-19 Vaccines

“Some frontline health care and emergency response workers are being offered financial and other types of incentives to get the experimental COVID-19 vaccines being distributed under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) granted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).¹There are media reports that many workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic are refusing to get a COVID-19 shot. ^{2 3 4 5 6} Some employers are offering both monetary and non-monetary compensation as an incentive to get vaccinated.⁷

There were indications in the fall of 2020 that health care workers on the frontline of treating COVID-19 patients were not planning to get a COVID-19 shot. According to a survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in September 2020, only 63 percent of health care personnel reported that they would be likely to get a COVID-19 vaccine.⁸ The American Nurses Foundation reported in October 2020 that 36 percent of nurses’ surveyed said they would not get the COVID-19 vaccine.⁹

Cash Payments Offered to Encourage COVID-19 Vaccination

Media reports show that employers around the country are offering workers on the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic a range of incentives to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Marc Boom, MD, CEO of Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas told the hospital’s 26,000 employees that they would receive a $500 bonus but only if they fulfilled certain eligibility criteria. He said, “Eligibility criteria to receive the award include getting a COVID-19 vaccination, fulfilling our obligation as health care workers to lead the community,”¹⁰

Gracedale Nursing Home in Nazareth, Northampton County in Pennsylvania is offering its employees a one-time payment $750 as an incentive for getting the COVID-19 vaccine. One of the primary reasons for incentive is that many of their employees have expressed concern over the safety of the experimental mRNA COVID-19 vaccines being made available in the U.S. under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) granted to vaccine manufacturers by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).¹¹

Northampton County officials have said they will be using money received through the federal CARES Act for the payout, which could cost approximately $490,000 for 650 employees.¹² The Northampton County Council approved a resolution offering employees the incentive. Part of the resolution stated, “[T]here may be some reticence on the part of some staff to be inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccination due in part to the rapidity of its development…”¹³

Gracedale Nursing Home Administrator Jennifer Stewart-King said the payment will help persuade staff to get COVID-19 vaccine. Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure added, “We have anecdotal reports that people are concerned. Their concerns are valid, no doubt about it.”^14“