Omicron: New York City offers $100 to get COVID vaccine booster shot before New Year

As the New York city of the United States struggles to counter the record-breaking Omicron surge, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday that everyone who obtains a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot from now onwards to New Year's Eve would receive $100 in cash. New Yorkers who would receive their second or third booster shots before December 31 at a city-run location or one of the SOMOS care partner clinics are eligible for this scheme, as per CBS News.  

New York City records 9,300 new COVID-19 cases

Further, de Blasio has acknowledged it is to be a time-limited opportunity, however, he said that it came at the perfect time for the pandemic-weary city. He further claimed that by far this initiative has been the biggest booster incentive scheme in the US. "This is the moment. Get those booster shots. Help make your family safer, help make this whole city safer," citing the Mayor, NBC News reported.   

Earlier, New York had paid $100 to everyone who received their first dose at a city-run location in July, with prepaid debit cards, postal as well as email. And again, as the country witnesses Omicron surge, the city begins implementing the incentive. As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Omicron is responsible for about three-quarters of all new infections. 

According to New York City statistics, the percentage of individuals who have been tested positive in the city for the week ending December 17 was roughly 8%, which is more than double the seven-day average from a week earlier. In the previous seven days, New York City recorded approximately 9,300 new COVID-19 cases, according to de Blasio, who also announced the financial incentive for vaccination boosters during a press conference. "That will continue to rise in the next few weeks," he said, as per CBS News.   

The program is being marketed by Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration as a method for New Yorkers to strengthen both their immune systems and their wallets. Apart from New York, incentives have been utilised in other cities to motivate families to acquire COVID-19 vaccines. In November, Chicago health authorities gave families $100 gift cards to have their children vaccinated. Parents and guardians in San Antonio, Texas, were also given $100 gift cards to H-E-B grocery shops when their children obtained vaccines. 

As of Monday, 48 US states, as well as Puerto Rico and Washington, DC, have reported cases of Omicron, according to public declarations by medical systems and state officials. Meanwhile, as per Worldometers, over 52,253,848 individuals contracted coronavirus in the nation since the outbreak, and more than 830,990 people have lost their lives.

(Image: AP)