Make those who don't get vaccinated pay $500

by Dr. Hayward K. Zwerling


MASSACHUSETTS IS AGAIN experiencing a COVID-19 surge and our hospitals are overwhelmed, mostly with unvaccinated patients.

As a practicing physician who takes care of many high-risk diabetic patients, I ask all my patients about their COVID-19 vaccination status. I explain to my unvaccinated patients that the benefits of vaccination far exceed the risk, both at the individual and societal level.

Unfortunately, this conversation only convinces a minority of the unvaccinated to get vaccinated and I have found that their decision is usually a political or tribal decision, not a scientific decision. My experience is concordant with survey data which has found that the best predictor of vaccination status is political affiliation.

Recent social experiments have found that “incentives” have failed to convince most unvaccinated people to become vaccinated. However, “disincentives,” such as employment mandates, are an effective means of convincing a majority of unvaccinated patients to become vaccinated.

Read more: https://commonwealthmagazine.org/opinion/make-those-who-dont-get-vaccinated-pay-500/