Missouri health officials respond to criticism of vaccine incentive program | New

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KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) On Wednesday, the governor of Missouris announced an incentive program that allows people who receive the vaccine to participate in a raffle that will give $ 10,000 to 900 people over the next 10 weeks.

In the first 24 hours, the health service recorded 116,000 admissions. At this early date, almost all of those who had been vaccinated before the announcement.

Many have wondered if this is a good use of taxpayer dollars. They also questioned the effectiveness and fairness of specific rules. On Thursday, the acting director of state health services responded to some of these criticisms.

At Loose Park, those invited to be interviewed had a generally positive response to the plan.

I think it’s good in a way because it encourages people, said Kevin Robinson.

Better late than never, said Tom Aber, who polled governors’ early messages on vaccination.

But on social media, there are a lot of detractors.

How about spending that money to feed the poor, one person wrote on Twitter.

Not as if the state needed the money for something useful, like roads, another wrote on Facebook.

A man from Loose Park who chose not to be interviewed raised the same issue about road repairs that take precedence in his eyes. Others, however, disagreed.

There are a lot of other things the state spends money on that are questionable, Aber retorted.

I think one of the best uses for taxpayer dollars is to get people to finally get life back on track, said Spencer Foust.

Many internet users angrily called it a government bribe. There was even more doubt that it would work to bring new people on board.

Lots of anti-vaxxers are buried, someone noted on Reddit.

Foust wondered the same thing. The vaccine has been available for months.

This will likely only strengthen their determination to have nothing to do with it, someone on Facebook added.

A KC native visiting California said the incitement there hadn’t changed his mind.

I just have my own personal reasons why I don’t want to get it and the money wasn’t going to change that, said Wayne Theets, who now lives in Sacramento.

Those who were positive about the program had the same concerns about its effectiveness in influencing people, noting that the vaccine had been readily available for months, but noted that there were people on the fence, described as hesitant. vaccine, not militantly opposed. These people and some younger people who are less concerned than apathetic might be persuasive, supporters said.

Another concern was the details.

The drawings every two weeks are separated into three pots: the young, the already vaccinated and the newly vaccinated. Adult admissions are also divided by congressional district. The 80 people in each category are actually eight people from each of the 10 congressional districts. Some other states have created a large pool.

It’s like working for a company for 10 years and new hires make the same amount of money, an already vaccinated man complained on Twitter.

appears to give congressional districts an advantage with more cows than people, another remarked on Reddit.

The acting director of state health services responded that, yes, the odds are better in pools where fewer people are registered.

Obviously, the chances of success are greater in these rural areas and we hope this is an incentive for people in these areas most hesitant to vaccinate, said Robert Knodell, acting director of the Department of Health and of Missouri Services. We wanted to structure our program based on lessons learned from other states to try and expand those opportunities, more luck that people might know someone who won.

Daniel Anderson said the logic made perfect sense for him, and as someone already vaccinated in Kansas City, he doesn’t feel looked down upon at all.

I think thinking outside the box is always to be commended, Anderson said. I didn’t get the vaccine for a price. I got the vaccine for myself, my family and my community.

Other questions were answered including why people need to register and are not automatically registered. Health ministry officials said they did not want to compromise the privacy of health information, so it was important for people to choose to give permission.

Getting the word out is also a challenge. A lot of the people we met at Loose Park didn’t want to be interviewed because they hadn’t heard of it. Only about one in 10 that we encountered had it.

More information about the program can be found here. You can enter here. If you are unable to access the online registration form, you can call the COVID-19 hotline Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at 877-435-8411.

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