What Is the Best Way to Increase Vaccination Rates in Our Country?

Headlines over the past month have made clear that money doesn’t incentivize people to get vaccinated.?But what will?

Counties, cities, and states have offered everything from lottery tickets to free fishing and hunting licenses. ?Companies are offering monetary incentives to employees to comply. ?The Federal government is offering free childcare and promoting free Lyft rides to get people to vaccination sites.

The number of Americans who have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine just hit 70%, a month after the White House projected we’d be there.?The CDC reports the seven-day average of administered shots is about 673,000 a day down from the peak of 3.38 million reported on April 13.?

A recent Facebook post from an Alabama doctor that’s gone viral described how she’s admitting healthy young people with serious infections: “One of the last things they do before they’re intubated is beg me for the vaccine. I hold their hand and tell them that I’m sorry, but it’s too late.”

The Washington Post reports a growing number of politicians who once downplayed the disease have begun to urge their constituents to get vaccinated. ?Since a Republican leadership full court media blitz on July 20th, first shot doses are on the rise in 48 of 50 states but remain well below the 70% national average in Red states. ??

It’s become clear that cash, lotteries, free-anything, and rhetoric can move the needle, but aren’t going to solve the problem. ?The editorial board of Crain’s Chicago Business instead suggests: “Put away the COVID-shot carrots. It’s time for some sticks.”

This becomes especially urgent as the aggressive Delta and Delta-plus variants create new hot spots across the country and the vaccine-resistant Lambda variant, which has spread to 30 countries in the world, was spotted for the first time in Houston last week. Ironically, it was found at the first hospital in the U.S. to mandate all of its employees get the vaccine. More than 150 resigned. Vaccine requirements for employment and indoor mask mandates from government and the private sector will likely be met with similar resistance based on past indicators.

Despite the reality of this virus and its devastating capability, why are people not acting in a way that can control its spread?

It has everything to do with the deeper personal beliefs and values we share.?We, at Shapiro+Raj, just completed a study into the psyche of the American Citizen, called the S+R Breakthrough Paradox.?What we learned is that most Americans (83%) value “Individual Freedom” while only 54% value “Collective Benefit” as a way to decide on an action that is right for them. The decision to get vaccinated has to date been an individual decision for the majority for this reason, made even more difficult because of the politicization of this issue. Because of the clear partisanship, it is difficult to get the country aligned behind an action that delivers on the collective good while protecting individual freedoms.

To shift momentum, we need to activate the citizens that want the collective good as advocates in their communities and influencers within their networks. Our research also found that more than half (57%) of Americans believe this conflict is best resolved by individuals instead of the government or the private sector. Convincing more people to become vaccinated is grounded in personal influence – a doctor, a trusted friend, a minister – who listens to concerns and responds with facts that matter to that specific person. This is the only way we can hope to get enough people inoculated to slow down and then stop the spread.

The outcome rests on a simple question: Will we allow our desire for individual freedom to take us back to a deadly third wave of the virus or does our passion for collective good move us toward normal?

Only time will tell.