Last week the Government of Alberta has announced a new lottery program incentive aiming to encourage more people to get immunized. The new lottery campaign will get vaccinate individual the chance of winning three CA$1 million prizes. However, Behavioral economist at the University of Calgary Robert Oxoby does not believe that the promotion will help out the vaccination process.
There will be three draws for the lottery campaign, each will award one lucky vaccinated individual with CA$1 million. The first draw is expected to be held once the province moves into Stage 3 of its economic recovery plan. This will happen when 70% of the eligible for vaccine Albertans have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Low Chances of Success
However, behavioral economist Robert Oxoby from the University of Calgary is not very fond of the idea to use the lottery as an incentive for people to get immunized and he is quite pessimistic about the initiative. According to the expert, there are years of evidence that prove money cannot change an individual’s preferences.
The head of the economics department of the university continued by saying that such incentives work so far, has the potential to win a prize cannot change one’s core beliefs. He claimed that it is not possible to turn someone from a pro-life protestor into a pro-choice one, and he explained that the case around vaccines is similar.
Mr. Oxoby continued his statement by adding that individuals who do not trust vaccines such as the anti-vax society will never change their stance on the subject. The expert stated that the lottery might catch the attention of people but it is likely that it won’t change their behavior. He also explained that monetary motivations can be effective for small behaviors, such as speeding or littering.
The expert economist made the bold statement that the new lottery aims towards drawing attention from the currently tense political situation, such as the recent news that Premier Kenney has the lowest approval among his Canadian colleagues. He resumed by claiming that in order to get more people to get vaccinated you have to change their way of thinking and that can be achieved by many community programs and people will learn to think more broadly and just about themselves.
Announcement
The new lottery vaccination campaign was announced in an online video by Premier Kenney last week and the official name of the program is “Open for Summer Lottery”. The premier clarified that the aim of the program is to get more people vaccinated and reward them with huge prizes. He stated that this way the healthcare could save money in the future.
Similar Incentive
Another Canadian jurisdiction that has also launched such a lotto incentive program is Manitoba. The promotion was formally announced by the province’s Premier Brian Pallister, and it will be giving away CA$2 million in total cash prizes along with several scholarships for the younger ones. In order for Manitobans to be eligible for the draws, they must be at least 12 years of age and have received at least one dose of the vaccine before August 2.
Source: Herring, Jason “Vaccine lottery unlikely to be effective: U of C behavioural economist”, Calgary Herald, June 13, 2021
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