The companies offer employees free time and extra money to get vaccinated for Covid-19.
Instacart’s online food delivery service announced a “Covid-19 Vaccine Support Stipend” on Thursday, offering $ 25 for exchange customers, in-store shoppers and full-service shoppers who get vaccinated starting Feb. 1.
The idea is to make sure that “Instacart buyers do not have to choose between earning revenue as a key service provider or vaccination,” Apoorva Mehta, founder and CEO of Instacart, said in a statement.
Mehta also advocates for buyers from the independently contracted Instacart store to have priority access to the vaccine. (While it is recommended to include grocery store workers in phase 1b vaccination, Instacart buyers are not recognized by the government as essential workers.)
Even with scheduled appointments, some people who are eligible for the vaccine have experienced lines and waits in many states.
The popular food chain Trader Joe’s will reimburse employees with two hours of pay per dose of vaccine received and will take steps to ensure that “Crew members” (employees responsible for jobs such as cash registers work, receive and unload deliveries , shelving, displayed buildings, floor cleaning, etc.) have time to schedule a meeting, trader spokesman Joe Kenya-Daniel told CNBC Make It.
Dollar General also announced on Wednesday that it will grant a single payment equal to four hours’ pay to members of the front-line timetable team after vaccination. According to a statement, the employee team will also be offered accommodation to compensate for the time spent administering the vaccine.
From a legal perspective, employers can mandate that employees be vaccinated before returning to work, provided they allow reasonable accommodations for those with medical problems or religious exemptions.
While these retailers do not require employees to be vaccinated, programs like these can encourage people to receive the vaccine so that they feel safer at work. According to Pew data released in December, 60% of Americans say they would definitely or probably get a coronavirus vaccine.
Robert Litan, an economist affiliated with the Brookings Institution, told NPR that giving people cash payments for vaccination from the federal government would encourage people to get the vaccine. (Of course, in theory this would cost the government hundreds of billions of dollars in funding.)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, said 80 percent of the population needs to be vaccinated to get herd immunity.
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