Increasing vaccination rates is crucial to beating the COVID-19 pandemic, public-health authorities worldwide agree. Yet even wealthy countries with optimal access to vaccines have had a hard time getting more than 70 percent of their populations inoculated.
Would paying people help? This idea has been kicked around all over the world, from Krispy Kreme’s US offer of a free doughnut with proof of vaccination to $100 gift cards, free tickets to sporting events, $1 million lotteries, and full college scholarships.
It turns out that paying people even a modest financial reward can motivate them to get the shot, according to a team of researchers including Chicago Booth’s Devin G. Pope, who performed a randomized controlled trial to measure the effects of payment on vaccination rates.
Conducted in Sweden from May to July, the study recruited close to 8,300 participants aged 18–49 from an online panel created by survey company Norstat. Each of the participants received a survey as soon as their age cohort was eligible for vaccination. The survey randomized participants into several groups including a control group, one offered an incentive, and others subject to various treatments including behavioral “nudges.”
The incentives group was offered 200 Swedish kronor, or about $24, if they got vaccinated within 30 days of gaining eligibility. The researchers used data from administrative records to confirm whether participants were vaccinated.