King County Councilmember proposes COVID-19 vaccination incentives

Reduced property taxes, rent assistance, or gift cards for goods or services are among the COVID-19 vaccination incentives that King County Council Vice Chair Reagan Dunn is proposing.

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Councilmember Dunn introduced a motion Thursday that tasks the county with creating a vaccine incentive program to help reach the goal of fully vaccinating 70% of all adults in King County by summer.

“We want our businesses and communities to get back to normal as soon as possible but are already seeing a decline in both first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine,” Dunn said in a news release. “Providing King County residents with a tangible incentive is a positive way to encourage folks who might be sitting on the fence to get vaccinated.”

Example of incentives include vouchers for property tax or rent assistance, direct payments, vouchers or gift cards for goods or services, and prize drawings. The money would come from over $400 million in federal COVID relief dollars.

“I’m even contemplating something like prize drawings or a lottery like they did in the state of Ohio,” Dunn told KIRO Radio.

“We got to really start working in terms of getting the remaining people to really, seriously think about going and getting their vaccine. It’s time now,” he added.

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If it’s passed out of committee and full council, the King County Executive would transmit any legislation to the council and report on the progress of the program by mid-June. But by then, the county’s target rate of 70% full vaccination may have already been reached.

As of this week, 69% of eligible King County residents have had at least one shot and 55% are fully vaccinated. While some areas of the county are closing in on that 70% threshold, rates in other areas, including South Seattle and Southeast King County, are as low as 45%.

Councilmember Dunn spoke with KIRO Radio’s Gee and Ursula Show on Friday to discuss his incentive program proposal. Listen to the full interview below:

Find more information about getting vaccinated in King County online here. For those interested and not yet vaccinated, there have been some recent pop-up clinics in the county offering free ice cream or other perks at local businesses, and the Mariners and Sounders are offering vaccinations at home games.

The KIRO Radio Newsdesk contributed to this report.

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