Incentives for vaccinations offered as demand declines

Fewer than 30% of residents in St. Francis County have received a Covid vaccination, according to health department officials.

In an effort to encourage more people to get the vaccine, Arkansas is offering incentives of lottery tickets and Game and Fish gift certificates.

St. Francis County Health Department Administrator Kathy Barron said the local agency has received its allotment of lottery tickets and gift certificates to give away to those who get vaccinated.

Barron said the incentives are available for anyone who received a vaccine on or after May 25.

“If you came to our clinic last week, you can bring your vaccination card to us. We’ll punch it and give you a choice of the lottery ticket or gift certificate,” said Barron. “If you received a vaccine before May 25, then you cannot get the ticket or certificate.

“As long as you have had one dose of a vaccine – and it doesn’t matter if it was a first dose or which vaccine – then you qualify for the incentive,” said Barron. “The lottery tickets are only for those 18 and older, obviously, but the Game and Fish gift certificates are available for those 12 and up.”

Barron noted that the health department is seeing a decline in the number of people wanting to be vaccinated. The agency held a clinic last week during which only 12 people were vaccinated.

“I believe people are still needing the vaccinations, but the demand is not as high as it was in the beginning,” said Barron.

According to Barron, the state is also relaxing its rules regarding vials of the vaccine being opened for fewer than 10 people wanting to be vaccinated. Each vial contains 10 doses.

“We’ve been told that if one person calls and wants to get vaccinated then we should tell them to come on in and get the vaccine,” said Barron.

According to the Arkansas Department of Health, 16,793 cases of Covid have been reported in the Eastern Arkansas region that includes St. Francis, Lee, Phillips, Monroe, Woodruff, Cross and Crittenden counties since the pandemic began.

The state has reported an increase of 226 Covid cases across the region since the beginning of May. To date, 300 people in the region have died due to Covid, which is an increase of 10 over the past month.

Also according to the report, 16,417 people have recovered from the illness, an increase of 288 during May.

People are continuing to be

(Continued from Page 1) tested for the virus, with the number of tests conducted in the region over the past month increasing by more than 7,000. According to the ADH, since the beginning of the pandemic, 148,657 tests have been conducted across the region.

In St. Francis County, during May, there were two more deaths attributed to Covid, increasing the county’s total to 44.

The ADH is reporting 3,611 cases of the virus in SFC since the pandemic began, which is an increase of 24 over the past month. According to the report, 3,557 people have recovered from the illness, and 32,872 Covid tests have been conducted, an increase of 1,058 in May.