COLUMBUS, Ohio — A program offering $100 to Franklin County residents who receive the COVID-19 vaccine has been extended an additional month, Columbus Public Health announced Monday.
Health officials credited additional funding from the state as reason behind a four-week extension of the Vax Cash program.
Under the program, residents who get vaccinated for COVID-19 will be gifted a $100 Visa cash card. The program was originally set to run through Aug. 16 at 10 neighborhood satellite clinics.
It will now continue to run though Sept. 10 at seven Columbus-area clinics.
The effort is the city’s latest attempt to motivate more people to get the vaccine.
“We are excited to extend the Vax Cash program to encourage more residents to roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Mysheika Roberts. “We’ve seen this program work to bring more people to our clinics, especially people of color and younger people. As cases continue to rise locally, we need this extra incentive to increase vaccinations to protect health and prevent hospitalizations from the delta virus.”
Since the program launched on July 6, more than 9,300 people have received a vaccine at the locations offered. According to CPH, 55% of those vaccinated were people of color, and 56% were people under the age of 39.
Dr. Roberts said the clinics were placed in areas specifically with the goal of reaching communities of color.
“One of the obvious barriers they said was they wanted us to come to them and they wanted some consistency, they wanted to know when we were going to be there and have a set schedule,” said Dr. Roberts.
The cash incentive will be offered from noon - 7 p.m. and appointments are not necessary. Below is a list of participating clinics:
Mondays:
- Linden Community Center: 1350 Briarwood Ave
Tuesdays:
- Ethiopian Tewahedo Social Services: 4099 Karl Rd.
Wednesdays:
- Barrack Community Center: 580 E. Woodrow Ave.
- Somali Community Association of Ohio: 3422 Cleveland Ave
Thursdays:
- Bhutanese Community of Central Ohio: 4646 Tamarack Blvd.
Fridays:
- Westgate Community Center: 455 S. Westgate Ave
- St. Stephen the Martyr Church: 4131 Clime Rd.
The incentive will also be available at the Columbus Public Health walk-in clinic at 240 Parsons Ave, according to the release.
