John Locher / AP
In this Feb. 17, 2021 photo, people receive the COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination site in Las Vegas.
Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021 | 2:26 p.m.
The Clark County Commission backed a pilot program today to pay people $100 to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Commissioner Tick Segerblom pitched carving out $100,000 in federal pandemic relief funds for up to 1,000 people to be rewarded for getting their shot, citing outcomes in other states and cities that he said show that financial incentives work.
In July, the White House called on state and local governments to offer $100 to people who get vaccinated, using American Rescue Plan funds. Segerblom wants to follow that suggestion.
“Going from the Raiders stadium to MGM, there's going to be lots more places where you can't work or go visit unless you can show you’re vaccinated,” he said.
Segerblom suggested organizing a couple of easily accessible clinics in areas hit hardest by the virus, like east Las Vegas, in mid-September so the commission can analyze the results by its next meeting at the end of next month.
Paid vaccine recipients will get Visa cards loaded with $100 upon getting their shot — whether it’s the first or second shot of a two-dose drug, or the one-dose vaccine. Segerblom said he wanted to keep it simple.
Commission Chairwoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick opposed the idea, saying the overhead costs and logistics of running clinics and answering the questions of people who have already been vaccinated without financial incentives adds work to county and health district staff that is already stretched thin.
The county sees more than 50 mostly small neighborhood-level clinics every day at a cost of about $30,000 per site, she said. Fewer than 200 people get shots at any given clinic.
Other commissioners were more open to the concept as a short pilot program.
Commissioner Michael Naft said he was skeptical but that a limited approach made more sense than a broader program.
“I just worry that a lot of the low-hanging fruit is gone on this, and I'm not sure that $100 is incentive enough,” he said.
Commissioner Justin Jones said he understood issues of “fairness” from people who long ago got inoculated, “but frankly, right now, I don't really care. We need to do whatever needs to get done in order to get people vaccinated.”
