Monetary incentives increase COVID-19 vaccinations

Abstract

Valuing vaccination Using money as a motivation for the public to get vaccinated is controversial and has had mixed results in studies, few of which have been randomized trials. To test the effect of money as an incentive to obtain a vaccine, Campos-Mercade et al . set up a study in Sweden in 2021, when various age groups were first made eligible to receive the severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 vaccine (see the Perspective by Jecker). The effect of a small cash reward, around US $24, was compared with the effect of several behavioral nudges. The outcome of this preregistered, randomized clinical trial was that money had the power to increase participation by about 4 percentage points. Nudging and reminding didn’t seem to be deleterious and even had a small positive effect. Of course, the question of whether it is ethical to pay people to be vaccinated like this needs to be addressed. —CA