A vaccine stimulus is the shot in the arm our country needs

We’re going to have a vaccine.

The end is in sight. It won’t be easy and it won’t be overnight, but in the last two weeks, Pfizer and Moderna have announced that their vaccines are highly-effective in clinical trials. Thanks to the incredible American innovation machine, it is likely that we are going to have much better vaccines, delivered much faster, than many predicted back in March.

We’re going to have a vaccine. Now we need to pay people to take it. Call it a vaccine stimulus. Restored public health and a stronger economy in one shot.

Unfortunately, progress has been stalled on a new COVID relief package for months. Lawmakers have argued about the size of the next bill and advocates have rightly pushed for important provisions like enhanced unemployment insurance, state and local aid, and vaccine distribution funding. But there has been one key plank missing: incentives for a skeptical and divided American public to actually take the vaccine.

Solving the vaccination distribution and stimulus at the same time

In a dysfunctional Washington, it’s best to offer simple solutions that solve multiple problems at once. This is why I am pushing for a vaccine stimulus program to address both the economic pain facing Americans and the need to get as many Americans vaccinated as soon as possible. It’s a simple idea — pay Americans $1,500 to take the vaccine. Upon proof of vaccination, the government mails or deposits a $1,500 check. Like the very popular stimulus payment included in the CARES Act, let’s put money directly in people’s pockets.

First, there is a tremendous economic need for a second round of stimulus. Earlier this year, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the coronavirus will shrink the economy by approximately $8 trillion dollars over the next decade. Data from Yelp indicates that more than half of the businesses that closed since March will never reopen and unemployment is still 75% higher than the pre-pandemic rate. Those that can least afford it have paid the highest price — data from the Federal Reserve shows that post-pandemic 28% of those making less than $40,000 were laid off or lost their job and that for most of them it hasn’t come back.

Second, a vaccine stimulus also creates an incentive for Americans to get vaccinated. The sooner this happens in large numbers, the faster we crush COVID-19, the more lives we save and the faster our economy returns to normal. Viral diseases die when they have nowhere left to go. With the highly contagious coronavirus, that will only happen when a large percentage of the population has antibodies, which can happen through exposure or vaccination. But right now, too many Americans don’t want to take a vaccine.

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Last week, Gallup released a poll showing that only 58% of respondents were willing to be vaccinated, a number that has dropped since earlier this year. Just as troubling is the data from Pew Research in September, in which only 21% of respondents said they would “definitely” receive a vaccine. Historically, there has always been resistance to vaccines. But we are now facing a mass inoculation challenge that is more urgent and on a larger scale than even the Polio vaccine push of the 1950s and 1960s, at a time when trust in our institutions is considerably lower and misinformation is higher.

Embrace the power of incentives

We have to embrace the power of incentives, specifically in the context of vaccines. In India, a study showed that providing even a small incentive, lentils and plates in one case, increased vaccination rates six-fold. Imagine how well a $1,500 check could do. This will save lives and rid us of this plague. This is an incentive that will cut through the nonsense like nothing else, and fast.

This plan would have a good return on investment. If you assume 75% of Americans take the vaccine, then the cost of the program would be $360 billion, which would be a relatively small percentage of any of the various proposals suggested. The American people need a second check and a vaccine stimulus gets it done. From a fiscal perspective the most important thing we can do is end the pandemic as soon as possible, so we don’t need a third or fourth relief bill. When we end the outbreak we decrease unemployment costs, decrease virus-related Medicare and Medicaid costs and increase federal revenues as businesses reopen and people start getting paychecks. It will likely have a much higher return on investment than other stimulus plans. We beat a pandemic recession by beating the pandemic, not by focusing on unrelated issues and problems.

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This is quite simply “two birds, one stone” at its core. The vaccine stimulus is a shot in the arm that addresses our need for economic relief and vaccine deployment in one elegant idea. It will save lives, lift Americans up, end the virus and restore our economy.

John Delaney, a former congressman from Maryland, sought the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Follow him on Twitter: @JohnDelaney

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COVID vaccine and stimulus: how to solve both problems at once