As vaccine numbers slide, Louisiana may offer incentives for getting COVID shot
BATON ROUGE - Governor John Bel Edwards said Louisiana is looking at ways to encourage residents who've yet to be vaccinated for COVID-19 to get the shot.
Governor Edwards said during a news conference that the state is considering some form of "incentive" to push those still hesitant to get vaccinated. The suggestion from the governor came as Louisiana sees a significant drop in new vaccinations this week, with fewer than 20,000 total doses administered in recent days.
While Edwards didn't want to suggest what that incentive might be, citing other states that were unable to sustain their incentive programs after announcing them to soon, he said something is definitely in the works.
"We have started to discuss incentives, things that we can do, and we've not yet made a determination," Edwards said. "I would bet you, coming up pretty soon, you're going to hear that we're going to offer some things to make sure more people take advantage of the opportunity to be vaccinated."
In recent weeks, several states have offered a myriad of incentives to encourage people to get the vaccine. Perhaps the most outlandish effort is in Ohio, where its governor announced five random residents who got the shot would get $1 million each.