Missouri Gov. Mike Parson reveals COVID vaccine incentive program with cash and prizes

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Wednesday announced drawings with $10,000 prizes to encourage residents to at least get one dose of the vaccine against COVID-19.

The announcement came as a COVID surge continues relentlessly across the state. Missouri on Wednesday reported 2,229 confirmed new cases, the highest since mid-January.

Parson on Wednesday also announced the hire of a new health director, Donald Kauerauf, who recently served as a public health official in Illinois.

In total, the vaccine incentive program means 900 residents will win prizes of either $10,000 cash or $10,000 toward education savings. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services will partner with the Missouri Lottery in the effort.

The incentive effort centers on five drawings that will begin Aug. 13. Three categories of individuals will be eligible: adults who have received at least one dose of vaccine before July 21, adults who have received at least one dose after July 21, and those under 18.

In each drawing, 180 people will win prizes: 80 adults at least partially-vaccinated by July 21, 80 adults vaccinated after July 21, and 20 residents 12 to 17 who are at least partially vaccinated.

The state also will provide money for local public health departments to give $25 to each person who gets vaccinated.

At a news conference, Parson urged residents to “turn off the clutter” and the “doom and gloom scenarios that are out there across our state.”

“These incentive programs will complement the state’s existing $5 million education plan, which helps Missourians get the facts on the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine and how to access it,” Parson said.

COVID-19 vaccine

The seven-day rolling average of cases in the Kansas City metro jumped 40% in the past week. Hospitals in Springfield have needed more COVID beds than ever before.

Statewide, full vaccinations hover above 40% of the population. The rate for adults reached 50% on Wednesday.

Missouri’s health department has embarked on a $5 million advertising campaign to promote the vaccine, and in Springfield health officials are engaged in a painstaking, person-to-person outreach effort. At state officials’ request, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is helping combat the southwest Missouri outbreak with delta variant sequencing and addressing vaccine hesitancy.

Some cities and local health departments, private employers and colleges such as Missouri State University also have offered incentives for vaccination.

A statewide incentive program signals the most aggressive push yet by Parson’s administration to encourage more Missourians to get the shot, after weeks of urging patience on vaccine uptake.

Local health departments have been mixed on whether they want an incentive program. Some health officials, including those in Springfield-Greene County and Columbia-Boone County, have said any program will help. Others have expressed doubts financial incentives could dislodge deeply embedded misinformation among hesitant communities.

“We are excited for any effort to get more Missourians vaccinated,” Springfield-Greene County health department spokesman Aaron Schekorra said. “Other states have had success with incentive programs and lotteries, so we are hopeful that Missouri will too.”

Parson said early in the vaccine distribution that the state expects 60% of the population to get the shot, and in June said he didn’t believe it’s the government’s role to pay residents for what he called a “personal responsibility.” He’s softened his tone about incentives in recent weeks as the delta variant swept through southwest Missouri, but the program has been slow to roll out.

Missouri Lottery’s role

An incentive program was being considered with the Missouri Lottery at least a month ago. But last week, Parson said the CDC had rejected the state’s proposal to use federal funds set aside for vaccination because CDC rules cap financial incentives at $25 per person.

The $9 million lottery will be paid for with state and other federal funds, said Robert Knodell, Parson’s deputy chief of staff and acting DHSS director.

Results from incentive programs in other states have been mixed. Boston University School of Medicine researchers found that the million-dollar lottery in Ohio, where vaccinations initially soared after the program began, ultimately “was not associated with an increase in COVD-19 vaccinations.” In Maine, few people claimed the rewards but officials said they were happy to see young people had participated in the program.

Knodell said Missouri officials consulted with other states’ officials that ran lottery programs and decided to design a lottery that included more chances of winning a prize.

“What we’re looking for is that is a sweet spot that gets as many people prizes or opportunities to be successful in those drawings, in as many communities as possible, as opposed to perhaps one winner or very few winners,” he said.

Community outreach

Health experts recommend pairing incentives with other outreach programs. In Missouri, officials have acknowledged the need to partner with trusted community leaders such as pastors. More than 200 Missouri ministers and pastors on Wednesday signed a statement urging Christians to be vaccinated.

“Vaccine hesitancy in our pews puts our congregations and communities at greater risk,” they wrote. “Given their safety and availability, receiving a vaccine is an easy way of living out Jesus’s command to ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

At the press conference, Parson stood by statements that Missourians should “consider” getting vaccinated. But he urged residents to talk with family doctors, local health officials and clergy.

“I ask you to go to your health care leaders in your communities, the people you trust, to your doctors, your clergy, to people you know that will give you good information,” he said. “I’m depending on you and your families, to make the right choices.”

New health director

Kauerauf, who will take over the agency Sept. 1, is a past assistant director of the Illinois Department of Public Health.

He will be tasked with transforming DHSS and leading it past the controversial tenure of its last leader, Randall Williams, who resigned abruptly at Parson’s request earlier this year.

“Don is no stranger to state government and has more than 30 years of experience in public health and emergency management with the state of Illinois,” Parson said. “It is obvious that he has a firm grasp on public health issues and the COVID-19 crisis, and we are confident in his ability to lead DHSS.”

Most recently, Kauerauf was policy adviser to the emergency management agency in Illinois, a state that took more aggressive measures to mitigate the pandemic than Missouri. But he said Missouri has “done a great job following CDC guidance.”

“It all comes down to, people need to get vaccinated,” he said. “It’s a clear answer ... Missouri has followed the CDC playbook. And my job is to come in and to build upon that.”

The Star’s Katie Moore contributed reporting.