Incentives in store to get elderly jabbed

Pilot project to start with food vouchers Department aims to launch scheme within weeks

Food vouchers, lottery entries and mobile data are among the incentives the government is considering to shore up flagging demand for Covid-19 vaccines among people over 60 years before the next surge in infections, anticipated in December.

The government’s mass vaccination programme, launched in May, was initially hobbled by bureaucratic delays and limited supplies, before gathering pace in August as more sites opened up and doses became available. But since then demand has faltered and the rate of vaccination has flatlined among the over 60s, sending the government scrambling to find ways to increase the uptake.

It is particularly concerned about this age group because they are most vulnerable to severe illness and death from Covid-19, but as of October 19, only 61.8% of SA’s 5.5-million people aged over 60 had been vaccinated and only 53% were fully immunised.

If the programme continues at its current rate, 1.8-million people aged 60 and above will still be unvaccinated at the end of the year, said DG Murray Trust CEO David Harrison, who is leading the health department’s demand acceleration strategy.

“If we are going to curb the impact of the fourth wave [we] have to have a massive, focused intervention for over 60s, and it can’t be more mass communication,” he said.

The recent Vooma Vaccination Weekend campaign, which increased the availability of shots on Saturdays and Sundays, had seen the strongest uptake among people younger than 30 but had made few inroads with the elderly, he said.

The department is planning to run a pilot programme with a range of incentives, starting with R100 food vouchers that will be sent to people over the age of 60 once they have received their shots. So far R100m has been raised from the private sector.

Discussions are under way with potential retail partners, and the department aims to launch the scheme in early November, said Harrison.

While there have been few

incentive programmes in developing countries, many richer nations have pushed up vaccination rates with offers of cash, free sporting tickets or food, he said. Food vouchers were particularly appealing, because they entailed a one-off cost with a clear benefit for the individual and the government, he said.

If 1-million more people over the age of 60 were vaccinated as a result of the food voucher incentive, an estimated 8,340 Covid-19 hospital admissions and 1,058 Covid-19 deaths would be averted, said Harrison.

Such a scheme would result in an estimated net saving of R525m because hospital costs would be averted, he said. The calculation assumes the average cost per hospital admission for Covid-19 is R75,000 in the public sector, he said.

The department hopes R100 food vouchers will be a sufficient incentive to offset the costs of accessing vaccination sites, as the vast majority (87%) of the unvaccinated over 60s do not belong to medical schemes, suggesting they are largely on low incomes, said Harrison.

“The reasons cashconstrained people stay away is multi-factored, but one reason is the cost of transport.

“Their willingness to travel may be extended with incentives,” he said.

Age is the biggest risk factor for severe Covid-19, and people over the age of 60 accounted for the majority of SA’s hospitalisations and deaths since the pandemic began. Recent data from the Western Cape found 98% of the over 60s who died during the peak of the third wave were unvaccinated.

DATA FROM THE WESTERN CAPE FOUND 98% OF THE OVER 60S WHO DIED DURING THE PEAK OF THE THIRD WAVE WERE UNVACCINATED