Should Colorado be holding vaccine sweepstakes?

Point: Dr. Matthew Wynia

I’m not usually a fan of lotteries — they’re a tax on people who are bad at math, my math teacher once joked. But unlike a lottery, which requires buying a ticket, entry into the COVID-19 vaccination sweepstakes is automatic and free for everyone who gets the vaccine.

Here’s why I’m in favor of them.

People get vaccinated for two reasons: to protect themselves and to protect others.

The first reason is selfish, and it’s enough for lots of people. I’m an infectious diseases specialist, and I’m over 50, so for me, self-protection was reason aplenty. I got the vaccine as soon as I could, as did virtually every other doctor.

But the second reason is not selfish — in fact, it’s altruistic.

Some people who haven’t been vaccinated yet are true conspiracy theorists. But many more aren’t so much afraid, as they just don’t see the benefit. They believe their personal risk of catching a bad case of COVID-19 is low, and let’s assume they’re right.

For those folks, the main reason they would get vaccinated is because they feel a duty to protect others. They are getting a shot, with its possible side effects, because they want to help our community achieve herd immunity and they don’t want to risk spreading it to others if they were to catch a mild or asymptomatic case.

But, let’s face it, not everyone feels a strong enough sense of duty to protect others to get them off the fence and into a vaccination clinic.

Protecting others is sometimes called an ‘externality’ in the decision to get a vaccine, because it’s an ‘external’ benefit — one that goes to someone other than the person being vaccinated.

The idea of a financial incentive — such as a shot at winning a million dollars — is to turn that external benefit into an internal benefit. It’s to reward people for the benefit they’re providing to others by getting vaccinated.

Entry into a sweepstakes is just one form of financial incentive, of course, and you might think it would be better to use another. For example, why not pay everyone who gets vaccinated $5?

That’s not a bad idea, and it would work for some people. But for others, the chance to win a million dollars will be more of a motivator. Lotteries are popular because lots of people will eagerly trade a sure $5 for a possible million.

Plus, there’s already evidence the sweepstakes idea works. Ohio started the first statewide COVID-19 vaccine sweepstakes, and in its first week vaccinations rose 55% for people 20 to 49 and an incredible 94% among teenagers!

Some have objected to using financial incentives to encourage vaccination if they are coercive, but a single entry into a sweepstakes is hardly coercive. Besides, coercion usually suggests someone is being threatened, not rewarded, into doing something they don’t want to do.

A more important objection is that a sweepstakes doesn’t address certain underlying reasons why some people aren’t getting vaccinated, like mistrust of the health care system or trouble getting time off from work. Setting up a sweepstakes must not cause us to ignore these other issues.

Finally, maybe the idea of a sweepstakes just doesn’t appeal to you. Fair enough, but it does appeal to some who’ve been on the fence. Achieving herd immunity is hard, and one approach won’t work for everyone. But herd immunity is our ticket out of this pandemic, just like it was for diphtheria, polio and smallpox — each of which was once a worldwide scourge. We need to work all angles to get people vaccinated.

Counterpoint: Rep. Andres Pico

Colorado is attempting to entice more people to get vaccinated with a $1 million payout, along with $50k in scholarship money for high school students to go to college.

The scholarship lottery is particularly problematic since there is growing evidence that some number of young men in the lottery’s target age range are experiencing heart inflammation as a result of the vaccine. While this number is small, the CDC called an emergency meeting this week to address the issue.

The only reason to spend fabricated or borrowed dollars on stimulus projects is if those projects are needed anyway and fall within the scope of a government’s responsibilities and jurisdiction. Otherwise, the dollars are being taken out of the economy, which deprives the private sector of the ability to invest and use them more beneficially. The economy would rebound much faster if the heavy hand of government were lifted.

The COVID lottery spending does not meet those criteria, both because it’s unnecessary and because it’s not the state government’s responsibility to ensure citizens are vaccinated.

Infection rates are falling across the state. More and more counties are being declared “all clear.” Those who had COVID-19 are already immune and don’t need to get vaccinated.

If one counts those who have had COVID-19, have already been vaccinated or are otherwise at extremely low risk, Colorado’s “herd immunity” has probably already been achieved. Therefore, the lottery isn’t necessary.

Furthermore, the lottery represents a misuse of funds, which are supposed to help us recover from the government-induced economic disaster of the last year. Rewarding a lucky few for getting the vaccine does nothing to fix the economy.

Injecting a massive number of federal dollars into the economy is a bad idea for other reasons as well. Much of this money is simply being printed or borrowed against the future.

Our country has never seen this level of artificial spending. We are taking out a long-term debt that our great grandchildren’s great grandchildren will be paying off. The country simply cannot afford such fiscal extravagance and irresponsibility.

The present generation also will feel the effects of this spending. Runaway inflation is already kicking in with rapidly escalating prices for energy, food, construction materials, and more. Government-caused inflation is an insidious, hidden tax that hits everyone but those on fixed incomes, the middle class, and the economically disadvantaged most severely.

The intent of the vaccine lottery is to increase the number of people getting the vaccine. After the first giveaway, the rate of inoculations didn’t increase, and actually decreased over the holiday weekend following the lottery’s announcement. So as an enticement, the lottery has already failed.

Colorado is now opening up and devastated businesses, which represent the life savings and dreams of countless small business owners and their employees, are beginning to recover.

Sadly, many businesses did not survive this last year. The lottery is more salt in the wounds as the lucky few get an extra handout, paid for by everyone else, including generations yet to be born. It is a gimmick and amounts to Governor Polis buying your votes with your own money and papering over his own culpability for the economic disaster.

Make no mistake, the government’s freezing the economy with overreaching mandates and measures devastated businesses, jobs, and lives.

Now that Polis has destroyed the economy, he wants to bribe you with future generations’ money to forget what he did.

These funds should not be printed, should not be borrowed and should not be spent, especially in such a wasteful manner. Let’s end the lottery, lift the remaining restrictions and governmental economic controls, and let people get back to work.

That’s the best antidote today.

Dr. Matthew Wynia is a Professor in the Schools of Medicine and Public Health and Director of the University of Colorado’s Center for Bioethics and Humanities, located on the Anschutz Medical Campus. Rep. Andres Pico (R – Colorado Springs) represents House District 16 in the Colorado General Assembly.