# Is it ethical to pay someone to get the Covid vaccine? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 5, 2021, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ethical-to-pay-someone-to-get-the-covid-vaccine/941426 "2021-05-05T12:01:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ethical-to-pay-someone-to-get-the-covid-vaccine/941426/82 "2021-05-08T19:59:11Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > To me the argument fails most the less significant the incentive is. The bigger it is relative to the needs of the individual the dicier the ethics potentially get. However there is a difference in the benefit to the individual. Poorer people are less likely to have access to quality healthcare if they catch Covid. They are less likely to be able to work from home, and thus are at greater risk. They probably live in more crowded conditions and are less likely to be able to social distance. So the benefit to society of getting these people vaccinated is greater than for rich people, especially since rich people who aren’t anti-vaxxers will see less utility from the $300. It would be nice if everyone could rationally assess the benefits of getting vaccinated, but this isn’t happening. And a payment should not replace information programs and attempts to have peoples doctors having access to vaccines so the vaccination could be done in a trusted location. The problem of ends justifying the means assumes that the means are in some way negative or harmful to society, but could be done for a supposedly greater good. That isn’t the case here except if one were a rabid anti-vaxxer who is convinced that Bill Gates is injecting microchips. I know someone like that, and $300 won’t affect her decision. But she isn’t invited to my house when our group meets in person unless she is vaccinated. Is that coercive also? ---
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ethical-to-pay-someone-to-get-the-covid-vaccine/941426/83 "2021-05-09T03:51:15Z")
If paying people to get the vaccine was unethical, wouldn’t paying people to participate in clinical trials be way more unethical? ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ethical-to-pay-someone-to-get-the-covid-vaccine/941426/84 "2021-05-09T12:36:59Z")
As an aside, it’s tragic and ludicrous from us to be sitting here calmly discussing the issue of $300 as a sort of intellectual game, when this exact same scenario plays put daily in the opposite direction. Financial considerations, with a massively disproportionate impact based on class and income, are woven through our health care system in an utterly inextricable way. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ethical-to-pay-someone-to-get-the-covid-vaccine/941426/85 "2021-05-12T23:48:09Z")
How about a chance at a million dollar lottery prize? [https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/get-vaccinated-in-ohio-and-get-a-shot-at-1-million-gov-mike-dewine-announces/ar-BB1gFH1Y](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/get-vaccinated-in-ohio-and-get-a-shot-at-1-million-gov-mike-dewine-announces/ar-BB1gFH1Y) ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ethical-to-pay-someone-to-get-the-covid-vaccine/941426/86 "2021-05-21T17:53:22Z")
It seems to be working: > **[Ohio sees boost in shots after it announces $1 million vaccination lottery](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ohio-sees-boost-shots-after-it-announces-1-million-vaccination-n1267648)** > > Ohio had its highest vaccination day in three weeks after it announced lottery-style drawings for vaccinated Ohioans. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ethical-to-pay-someone-to-get-the-covid-vaccine/941426/87 "2021-05-21T17:54:57Z")
Darn. I suppose there is the other side of things. As an Ohioan, now I have an incentive to talk others _out_ of the vaccine in order to have a higher chance of winning. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ethical-to-pay-someone-to-get-the-covid-vaccine/941426/88 "2021-05-21T20:30:57Z")
I’m a bit late to the party, so excuse me if this has been said. But I’d say it’s ethical to pay someone. It uses money for the greater good of society. Which is what public money is for. It’s not ethical to not get the vaccine to until you’re paid. Unless you can’t afford to get it (due to work/travel considerations). ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ethical-to-pay-someone-to-get-the-covid-vaccine/941426/89 "2021-05-21T22:12:44Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > The only way I could see this as “unethical” is if you saw the vaccine as either highly risky or against deeply held beliefs. […] I guess what I am saying is that your wife’s position only makes sense if you reject the premise that the vaccine is safe, if you think it’s reasonable to have real concerns about the safety of receiving it. This is my opinion, too. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ethical-to-pay-someone-to-get-the-covid-vaccine/941426/90 "2021-05-21T22:20:44Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > The argument emphasizes the class inequality of the coercion. This kind of incentive is not coercive to someone of upper SES but is potentially very coercive to someone who needs it to make rent or get the food on the table. This is a bigger deal the more the need for the coercion is societal greater good and the lower risk for disease complications the individual coerced is. > > To me the argument fails most the less significant the incentive is. The bigger it is relative to the needs of the individual the dicier the ethics potentially get. I see paid incentives for voluntary vaccination as being just as ethical as paid incentives for voluntary enlistment in the military. Both will have an outsized effect on less affluent citizens, both involve individual risk, both benefit society at large. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ethical-to-pay-someone-to-get-the-covid-vaccine/941426/91 "2021-05-21T23:48:05Z")
I agree that the military issue has ethical problems, worse than any theoretical worry over pay to jab. Israel’s universal compulsory approach is ethically superior. Indeed it would be inconsistent to support the former while objecting to the latter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ethical-to-pay-someone-to-get-the-covid-vaccine/941426.md?page=4)