Using lotteries to speed up corona-vaccine uptake
In the USA hefty cash prizes of up to 1,5 million USD are being offered in some states, whilst in Moscow, cars are being raffled off to vaccine-taking residents on a weekly basis. Whilst these practices may seem different, lotteries as public health incentives have been in use long before covid-19.
Martina Björkman Nyqvist, Executive Director of Misum and Associate Professor at SSE co-produced the only rigorous evaluation on using lotteries as a financial incentive in public health with three co-authors. This weekend their research was featured in the Washington Post article ‘Lotteries as public health incentives began before covid-19’.
The article examines historical use of lottery incentives and explores the instances of lotteries being connected to vaccination drives during the pandemic. It weighs up a set of considerations exploring if this method is something that other countries – which objectively includes Sweden - could pick up on to accelerate vaccination progress or to reach low-uptake populations.