"If You Get the COVID Vaccine, We'll Give You 800,000 Won"… US Local Government's Bold Offer to 'Erase Distrust'

On the 18th (local time), a medical staff member in Florida, USA, received the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Nah Han-ah] Amid growing distrust of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines in the United States, the state of Pennsylvania has used financial support to address this issue.

On the 18th (local time), the Washington Post (WP) reported that recently, the Northampton County government in Pennsylvania agreed to give $750 (approximately 820,000 KRW) to nursing home staff who receive the vaccine.

This is an economic support measure for COVID-19 response, utilizing part of the federal funds from the 'CARES Act' stimulus package as an incentive for vaccination.

The incentive targets about 700 employees of 'Grace Dale Nursing Home,' the largest nursing facility in Northampton County.

Lamont McClure, head of Northampton County, predicted that about $490,000 to $493,000 (approximately 542 million KRW) out of the total $27.6 million (about 30.35 billion KRW) in federal aid will be spent on this policy.

McClure said, "We are doing everything we can to prevent the same period from February to April from happening again."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the emergency use of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by U.S. pharmaceutical company Moderna on the same night, following the Pfizer vaccine.

However, WP reported that due to the spread of various misinformation, many people still do not trust the safety of the vaccines.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.