Starting Friday, New Yorkers who receive their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at a city-run site will be given $100 — the latest desperate measure in City Hall’s ramped-up effort to get more residents inoculated as a highly contagious coronavirus variant spreads, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday.
“It does not get better than that,” de Blasio said during his daily remote press briefing of the $100 reward for agreeing to a jab.
“Incentives help immensely,” the mayor said. “I think it’s going to be very, very appealing to New Yorkers.”
De Blasio predicted the chance to pocket a Benjamin will “move a lot of people” to get vaccinated.
“I personally believe the guarantee that, right then and there, you’re going to be rewarded, I think that’s going to make a big difference to people,” the mayor said.
The money will come in the form of a $100 prepaid debit card that city residents and workers can receive while waiting during the post-vaccine observation period or via mail, said Rachel Loeb, head of the city’s Economic Development Corporation.
Mayor Bill de Blasio predicted that the new $100 incentive will “move a lot of people” to get vaccinated. Mary Altaffer/AP
A man gets the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Lehman High School, on July 27, 2021. Mark Lennihan/APThe announcement comes after de Blasio responded on Monday to mounting concerns about the spread of the more contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 — and low vaccination rates in some city agencies — by mandating that all city workers receive a shot or get tested for the bug weekly. In addition, unvaccinated municipal employees will soon be required to wear a mask in their workplaces, de Blasio said Monday.
On Tuesday, the fed-up mayor proclaimed that the “voluntary phase is over” on vaccinations, and that City Hall is “climbing the ladder” toward mandatory jabs for city workers.
