In February 2022, a randomised trial in rural Ghana confirmed that tailored cash incentives bolster the take-up of Covid vaccines. The effect was not just significant, it was large: the verified vaccination rate of those receiving a $3 payment was 9 per cent higher than those in the control group receiving no cash. Our data suggest that financial incentives can increase the rate of vaccinations — reducing the time and effort staff need to commit to a campaign.
The international community spent more than $20bn supporting Covid-19 vaccination campaigns in low- and middle-income countries. It was one of the costliest public health initiatives ever targeted at these nations. Despite this, Africa trailed behind the rest of the world in terms of vaccination rates: a more equitable global pattern of jabs would have prevented the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives. And incentivising vaccination with cash would have saved many of them.
See full story, as reported in the Financial Times on the 4 January 2024 HERE