County to offer $100 vaccine enticement
Gift cards latest move by officials to boost inoculations
Harris County will offer $100 gift cards to residents who receive a COVID-19 vaccine, County Judge Lina Hidalgo announced Tuesday, the latest attempt by local government officials to boost the region’s vaccination rate.
The gifts, prepaid debit cards, will be available at all Harris County Public Health vaccination sites through Aug. 31. This initial program includes $2 million for 20,000 cards. Anyone can sign up at readyharris.org; the vaccines are free and do not require proof of insurance.
“There’s no excuse,” Hidalgo said. “We have the power to put this crisis to rest in two to four weeks if each person who does not have the vaccine steps up right now.”
Through Monday, 56.6 percent of Harris County residents 12 and older were fully vaccinated. In the past month, the county has increased its vaccination rate by an average of 0.7 percent per week. At that pace, the county would not reach 70 percent until the final week of December.
Dr. Esmaeil Porsa, CEO of the Harris Health hospital system, described this fourth wave of COVID-19 as a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” Ninety-eight percent of virus patients at Ben Taub and Lyndon B. Johnson hospitals, he
said, are unvaccinated. All the COVID-19 deaths the system has recorded this year were among unvaccinated patients.
The Houston region is on track to set a new COVID-19 hospitalization record this week. With more than 2 million unvaccinated Harris County residents, Porsa said the virus still can thrive.
“The delta variant is proving to be way too contagious for this degree of vaccination to have an impact,” Porsa said. “I am begging you, do the right thing: Get yourself vaccinated. Get your children over 12 vaccinated.”
Mayor Sylvester Turner announced at a City Hall news conference Tuesday afternoon that Houston had passed 3,000 COVID-19 deaths. One, he said, was a 24-year Public Works employee.
Fire Chief Sam Peña said ambulance crews continue to experience long waits to deliver patients at emergency rooms because of the shortage of beds caused by the increase in virus patients.
“This spike in coronavirus is not just affecting those sick or symptomatic,” Peña said. “It’s affecting all our patients and calls for service.”
On a 3-2 party line vote last week, Commissioners Court approved $10 million for vaccine incentives, for which the county plans to seek reimbursement through the federal American Rescue Plan.
Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle, though supportive of efforts to boost the vaccination rate, said he opposes paying residents to get the shots.
“It just is reminiscent of some unsavory things in times past,” Cagle said Aug. 10. “People used to get paid for donating blood, and disease outbreaks broke out from that.”
Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey also voted against the plan.
In June, Harris County also launched a raffle for teenagers under 18 who got vaccinated. The county distributed 10 scholarships worth $5,000 each.