LYNN — The Lynn Community Vaccination site, located at 2 State St., will continue to offer $75 gift cards to anyone who stops in for a COVID-19 vaccination or booster shot.
The Department of Public Health (DPH) announced earlier this week that it will extend its gift card incentive program until March 31 in order to minimize the risks of a future COVID-19 outbreak.
DPH first launched its Get Boosted campaign in October as part of its Vaccine Equity Initiative to increase vaccination rates, with a focus on boosters.
While the program was slated to end in December 2022, Vaccination Site Administrator and EMT James Kontoules said that given the program’s success in Lynn, he’s glad the DPH committed to another three months.
“It’s a necessary incentive to get people to get their booster who otherwise would not. There’s a lot of people who come in even though they would’ve gotten their booster anyway — it’s a nice extra little thing that we can do to incentivize them to come in,” Kontoules said.
In the Fall, Kontoules said, the vaccination site saw roughly 150 people come in each day for their COVID shots and gift cards. By the end of the year, that number dropped to approximately 20 to 100 people each day.
“A lot of people might just not know that we’re continuing the incentive program,” Kontoules said. “People might have just assumed that it ended with what people generally accept as the flu season ending. So they’re thinking about it maybe as like a ‘COVID season.’ ”
Those who wish to get vaccinated can stop by the Lynn Vaccination Site Wednesdays from noon until 8 p.m. or Saturdays from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. Kontoules said that the clinic offers every kind of COVID-19 booster and vaccine available, and offers gift cards to businesses such as Walmart, Market Basket, or Shoprite.
Massachusetts is a national leader in COVID-19 vaccination; according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), 93 percent of the state’s population aged six months and older has received at least one dose, compared with 81 percent nationally. 64 percent of fully vaccinated individuals in Massachusetts have had a booster.
Public Health Coordinator Norris Guscott said that even though COVID-19 infection rates have, for the most part, stabilized, another spike could happen at any moment.
“COVID is not going anywhere and numbers will fluctuate based on the season,” Guscott said. “We have made good enough progress where a good enough number of Lynn residents have been vaccinated and you can see elements of herd immunity, from folks who have gotten it.”
Despite progress in fighting COVID-19, Guscott said that vaccination is one of the best lines of defense against another outbreak. He added that vaccine programs, in his opinion, are a win-win for public health and local residents.
“You can always have more vaccinations, and we know that there is vaccination hesitancy as well, which is something else that we’re trying to combat. We’re learning to live with COVID,” Guscott said. “Incentivization is great— if someone’s trying to give me some resources for taking the vaccine, something that you should be doing anyways, in our opinion, then, why not?”
The Public Health Department will host a walk-in vaccine clinic at Room 103 at City Hall Monday, Feb. 6 from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m.
