Do Economic Incentives for Vaccines Backfire? Not in the Short-Run

"If you pay someone to do something, they are more likely to do it." This economic principle rings true in practice. It is a basis for the labor market. While some people volunteer their time, people generally work if provided a salary and benefits. This concept holds outside of the labor market, such as when people are giving or selling organs to another. While the power of a financial incentive is sensible and provable, it ended up being controversial during the pandemic. 

Such states as Ohio and Maryland provided financial incentives to get vaccinated because they figured that people would be more likely to get vaccinated. There were others that were worried that the financial incentive could backfire and erode trust in public health officials. How so? Essentially, the thinking goes along the lines of "I never received money for a vaccine before. What is so bad about this that they have to pay me to take it?" Or alternatively, "If I should trust the vaccine, why do you have to pay me for it?" In September 2020, I recognized that while a financial incentive could theoretically help, there was also the hurdle of convincing people the vaccination production process was not rushed. I later illustrated in April 2021 how the vaccine development process was streamlined, as opposed to rushed. But again, the issue with such health campaigns is perception, not so much reality. 

How did it play out in practice? Did the vaccine incentives lower the likelihood of people taking vaccines? Last month, a systematic review of 38 studies covering the topic of economic incentives of vaccine uptake was released in Preventative Medicine (Khazanov et al., 2023). It looks like the answer is that it did not lower that likelihood. None of the 38 studies showed a negative impact on vaccine uptake. Most of the studies found that it positively impacted vaccine update. The authors concluded that "fears of incentives decreasing uptake are not supported by the evidence." 

Based on this systematic review, it seems that financial incentives do help with vaccination rates. There is one concern I find remaining: future vaccine campaigns. COVID is the first global pandemic in which the human race had to ask itself questions about incentivizing vaccination to stop the spread of a potentially deadly disease. Will the politicization of this pandemic affect future pandemics? Will people now expect financial incentive for future vaccinations? I can speculate until I am blue in the face, but I suppose time will tell.