Boston mulls coronavirus vaccine incentive program as effort continues to evolve

The city of Boston is mulling a vaccine incentive program and is asking people holding events around the city if they want someone there giving shots as city officials try to figure out more ways to put shots in arms.

Boston Health Chief Marty Martinez told the Herald that the city’s seen good evidence that incentive programs work, and is encouraging organizations it partners with to think about offering them — whether it’s something to eat or drink, or a little prize, or just some fun attraction to get people to show up.

“We’re also talking about rolling out a larger incentive program in the city,” Martinez said. The city will mull whether it wants to begin a program it runs, which could include signing people up for giveaways for the likes of pro sports tickets.

“We’re definitely open to that,” Martinez said. ” It’s complimentary. … It’s just that little extra bump, if you will.”

Other states have had luck with lotteries or other giveaways.

The city now has more than 50% of people 12 and up fully vaccinated, with an additional 10% with the first shot of one of the two-dose shots in them.

The state is beginning to dismantle its mass vax infrastructure as demand wanes, and Martinez said the city is on the same page: The idea now is to chip away, getting small chunks of people at a time.

“The days of 5,000 people a day in one place are over,” Martinez said.

He said the city now looks for anywhere where they think they can get at least 35 people. As people ask the city for permits for events, the city’s starting to have a question for them: Would it make sense to have someone there to administer vaccines? That applies to end-of-year school events, block parties, back-to-work gatherings — whatever’s going on.

“Every arm that we get a shot in is progress,” he said.

Acting Mayor Kim Janey originally had detailed a multi-pronged plan to get shots in arms, focusing on a combination of the big mass vax sites, targeted clinics for workers, neighborhood clinics and mobile vax sites. Now, as the vaccination effort continues to evolve, Martinez said the city’s main resources are going in two directions: public awareness efforts and the mobile clinics.

The city continues its multilingual outreach aimed at persuading people to get a vaccination, and it’s partnering with various local organizations to run mobile clinics in increasing numbers since the first launched a month ago.

“We gotta go neighborhood by neighborhood, street by street,” Martinez said.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3pB9nI5