Incentivizing to Get Vaccinated is Rising in the United States

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After more than a year, businesses are finally going back to normal as the Covid-19 vaccine is getting rolled out globally. However, companies are now facing challenges with employees not wanting to get vaccinated over safety and other related concerns. Many employees are avoiding vaccines as they are more concerned about the side effects. Thus, making organizations walk a fine line when it comes to getting their employees vaccinated against Covid-19.

Financial incentives serve as extra motivation for employees to get vaccinated, and gift cards are a good tool for delivering that motivation. As a result, many employers are offering digital gift cards to their employees for getting vaccinated against the coronavirus disease.  

• Several retailers are offering gift cards to their employees once they show certification of getting fully vaccinated. For instance, Beef O’Bradys, a restaurant franchise business in the United States, is prepared to bear half a million dollars for getting its employees fully vaccinated. The company is offering US$100 worth of gift cards once the employees take their vaccine shots to prevent the operational issue.
• Bright Horizons, a nationwide child-care center in the United States, has also rolled out a vaccine incentive drive for getting their employees fully vaccinated against the coronavirus disease. The company is offering US$100 worth of Target gift cards to each one of its more than 11,000 employees nationwide.
• Another retailer in Michigan, Wallside Windows, is encouraging their employees in the United States to get vaccinated by offering a US$100 gift card. Apart from employees, the retailer is also offering gift cards to its contractors once they show that they have taken both of their vaccination doses.

Even supermarkets have adopted the incentive-based approach to get their employees fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

• In February 2021, Publix announced that the supermarket would be offering US$125 worth of gift cards to their employees who get their recommended number of -19 Covid-19 vaccine doses.
• Brookshire Grocery Co. is another retailer that adopted the gift card strategy for getting their employees vaccinated. However, instead of giving other retailers' gift cards, the company will be offering their own company gift cards to the employees.  

Apart from retailers, some of the cities in the United States are also offering people gift cards to get themselves vaccinated.

• In April, the City of Memphis announced that the first 2,500 recipients of the Covid-19 vaccine, on Friday and Saturday, will receive a US$20 Walmart or Kroger gift card. Additionally, even football stadiums in the city adopted the same approach for boosting the vaccination rate in Memphis.
• The City of Detroit adopted a similar approach to increase the vaccination count by launching the good neighbor strategy. Rather than giving gift cards to individuals who are not vaccinated yet, the City of Detroit wants people to drive their neighbors for taking the vaccine, and in return, they will get the $50 MasterCard debit gift cards.

With the national and local government in the United States’ plans to increase the vaccination count, some counties in the country are even considering gift cards as a possible way to incentivize people for getting vaccinated.This increased adoption of gift cards in getting people vaccinated is creating new business and investment opportunities over the short term. PayNXT360 expects the sector to become a key growth driver, as both local and national governments worldwide keep partnering with gift card issuers to boost the vaccination rate.