Doctors say vaccine incentives like Alberta’s “Open for Summer” lottery and the recently announced $100 gift cards for people who get their first and second doses aren’t enough to boost COVID-19 vaccination rates in the province.
As of Monday, Alberta has the lowest percentage of eligible people with a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the country, according to CBC’s vaccine tracker.
Physicians in the province say a vaccine passport or stronger restrictions on access to public spaces for those not vaccinated is needed to boost vaccine rates in the province — not more incentives.
“The lottery really didn’t have a particularly significant effect. And so I’m not sure that an individual incentive will make a huge difference, either,” said Dr. Stephanie Smith, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Alberta Hospital.
Did the lottery boost vaccine rates?
An analysis of Alberta Health daily vaccine data shows that after the $3 million vaccine lottery was…
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