Get $100 For 1st COVID Vaccine Shot, De Blasio Tells Unvaccinated

NEW YORK CITY — Unvaccinated New Yorkers have a chance to get some cold hard cash — and safe, proven protection against the coronavirus.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday that the city will give $100 to New Yorkers who get their first coronavirus vaccine doses.

The major new incentive begins Friday, he said.

“$100 for any New Yorker who goes to a city-run site,” he said.

STARTING FRIDAY:

Get your first dose of the #COVID19 vaccine at a City run site and you’ll get $100.

It’s that simple.

https://t.co/V1jusyFv1K https://t.co/etaipgbCtd pic.twitter.com/w7V1nKrk9S
— NYC Mayor's Office (@NYCMayorsOffice) July 28, 2021

The incentive stands in contrast to the vaccine-or-testing mandates de Blasio recently unveiled for city workers. Hizzoner has expressed increasing frustration with vaccine-hesitant New Yorkers, especially as the highly contagious delta variant of coronavirus spreads and threatens the city's recovery from the pandemic.

He even declared the "voluntary phase" of vaccinations as over and done.

But de Blasio on Wednesday said city officials still believe in incentives to entice New Yorkers to voluntarily get vaccinated. Incentives and mandates can coexist, he said.

"Both go well together, in fact," he said.

The carrot-and-stick balance de Blasio struck is evident in how he tied the $100 incentive to upcoming Aug. 21 Central Park mega-concert, which will be open only to people who can show proof of vaccination.

“Not only get the $100, you then qualify to be able to do everything else that’s wonderful in this city, including the amazing concerts coming up,” he said. “You can’t go to those concerts unless you’re vaccinated.”