Louisiana Considering a Vaccine Incentive Program
Louisiana's COVID-19 vaccinations numbers have been on the decline, and now, Governor John Bel Edwards is considering a way to turn that around.
Personally, speaking as a full-vaccinated Louisianian, I don't believe it's my right or responsibility to tell anyone to get the vaccine. I think, at least right now, that's the kind of thing that should 100% be up to the person considering it.
I can say that I did it because I felt like it was the right thing to do, but I can only speak for myself.
When it comes to those in our state getting the vaccine, it would seem that most who wanted it have already gotten it, but there are still some on the fence. The governor believes it might be time for Louisiana to give residents an incentive program to encourage Louisianians to get vaccinated.
Of course, this is nothing new and many states have already implemented these types of programs. Heck, Alabama held a huge vaccination event where anyone who showed up and got the shot got to drive around two laps on Talladega Speedway.
Nine other states have already rolled out events that include stuff like free beer and free lottery entires.
So, what could Louisiana offer its residents in exchange for getting a vaccine? We don't have that answer yet, but we do know that it's on the mind of John Bel Edwards. This week, he says, "I would bet you that coming up pretty soon that you are going to hear that we are going to offer some things to make sure that more people take advantage of the opportunity to be vaccinated.”
In terms of what exactly our incentive(s) could be, Edwards says he's not ready to announce anything yet. He says, "I don’t want to get ahead of myself because there have been some other states that did that and they had real trouble putting together the incentive program that they announced, and I don’t want to do that."