Gov. should offer bond to anyone vaccinated
The hazard of premature celebration is we end up undermining our own progress.
Back at the beginning of March, West Virginia was reporting record lows in daily coronavirus cases. One day, the state reported only 129 confirmed cases — a number we hadn’t seen since last fall. But in the last couple weeks, we’ve seen daily confirmed cases average in the 200s and total daily cases averaging well above 300. In the past week, West Virginians under 40 have made up about 57% of the state’s new cases.
In our excitement to reach the pandemic’s finish line, we’ve tripped ourselves up and slowed down our own progress. It also hasn’t helped that COVID vaccinations have stalled at a little over 50%.
Gov. Justice is trying to rev up enthusiasm for the shots by offering $100 savings bonds to people ages 16-35 who get the vaccine. (And yes, that does include people in that age range who have already gotten inoculated.) The governor’s idea isn’t a bad one. In fact, it made national headlines, with NBC picking up the story.
When it comes to government incentives, there are really only two types: Punishment or reward. Given all the sacrifices we’ve made over the last year, Justice made the right choice by going with reward. But everyone has made sacrifices. Everyone has struggled in some way or another. And everyone who contributes to ending this pandemic by getting vaccinated deserves a share of the reward he’s offering.
About 40% of West Virginians are wary of getting their COVID shots. By narrowing the scope to 16- to 35-year-olds, Justice is targeting the majority of the state’s vaccine-hesitant population. However, that also means he’s primarily rewarding the hold-outs — the people who have been dragging their feet and dragging out this pandemic — rather than the people who stepped up and took their shots.
Justice’s plan is a Hail Mary that hopes enough young people will take him up on his offer to push the state over that 70% vaccination threshold to reach statewide herd immunity.
If Justice really wants to reach that 70% benchmark, he should open his savings bond incentive to everyone who gets — and has gotten — vaccinated.
He’s already said the bonds will be paid for using CARES Act funds. Compensating West Virginians for getting vaccinated seems like a much better use of CARES dollars than using them for unrelated purposes as has been previously proposed.
West Virginia’s best resource is its people. Its greatest weapon against the coronavirus is its people. It only makes sense to invest in West Virginia’s people so we can keep fighting and live to see another day.
