The Augusta Commission voted in a special session Tuesday, Oct. 26 to expand the VaxUp Augusta! incentive plan by authorizing the $100 dollar gift card incentive to be given for both shots of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
The new incentive program goes into effect Oct. 30 and will last until the $1.5 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funding runs out.
Booster shots are not covered in the incentive program.
MORE: About 1 Million Georgia Children Five to 11 to Become Eligible for COVID Vaccine Soon
In a presentation to commissioners, City Administrator Odie Donald admitted that despite allocating $25,000 on marketing and advertising on 11 local radio stations, the first month of the program has not had the projected impact.
According to Donald, the city hoped that the $100 incentive, which at first required full vaccination, would spur at least 8,300 to 10,000 unvaccinated Richmond County citizens to get the shot. However, to date, only 1,268 people have reached the requirements to get the gift card, which amounts to a vaccination increase rate of between 5% and 6%.
[adrotate banner=”51″]
Just under $1 million in funding has been allocated, with $830,000 going to the gift cards themselves, and an estimated $415,000 in administrative costs. The city has set aside an additional $50,000 in CARES Act funding should it be needed.
Donald explained that while there are five vendors now participating, only the Richmond County Health Department was able to provide a full month’s worth of figures because it took the other vendors more time to set up and offer the incentive program.
“We’ve seen a bit of an uptick even though there’s only been a brief allocation,” Donald said.
MORE: Pfizer Vaccine Wins Full FDA Approval
Not all commissioners were on board for the added incentive. District 8 Commissioner Brandon Garrett has not been impressed with the results of the program.
“Now, we are gonna add basically $100 a shot, and looking at the statistics the administrator talked about, it doesn’t look like we have impacted the percentages all that much,” Garrett said.
That comment drew a rebuke from Mayor Hardie Davis who urged commissioners to adopt the new incentive and stick to the script when speaking about it publicly.
[adrotate banner=”15″]
“What I would like to see today is that after this motion is taken, and hopefully adopted, is that we provide every commissioner with a set of talking points where everybody is saying the same thing and doing the same thing. I want everyone saying the same thing and doing the same thing. We need shots in arms,” Davis said.
The motion passed 8 to 1, with Garrett voting no and District 7 Commissioner Sean Frantom absent.
The incentive is not available through all groups that provide the vaccine. The vendors that are under a memorandum of understanding with the city to hand out the gift cards are the Richmond County Health Department, Christ Community Health, Medical Associates Plus, Nightingale Infusion and Pharmacy and the Augusta University Student Health Clinic.
Each vendor will continue to receive $50 per vaccinated individual to cover record keeping and overtime pay costs.
The city will hold a drive through vaccination clinic from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 30 in the James Brown Arena parking lot.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
