(Photo : Photo by Sean Gallup - Pool / Getty Images)
POTSDAM, GERMANY - JANUARY 05: A doctor holds up a bottle of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 at the vaccination center at the Metropolis-Halle events center on the first day the center began operation during the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic on January 05, 2021 in Potsdam, Germany. Vaccination centers are beginning operation this week in several German states with others to follow in coming weeks. Delays in shipments of the vaccine has postponed vaccine center openings in some cases.
After they could possible get a coronavirus vaccine, around 26,000 workers of Houston Methodist Hospital can look forward to some extra cash in March.
Houston Methodist Offers Workers $500 to get Coronavirus Vaccine
In an emailed letter to the employees, the president and the CEO of the hospital, Dr. Marc Bloom shared that they can look forward to a $500 bonus as the medical facility thank them for their perseverance throughout the difficult year of 2020.
He also stated that part of the eligibility criteria in receiving the said cash award is getting a cornairus vaccination, which is a move in order to fulfill their obligation as health care workers in leading example to the community.
About six weeks ago, employees of the said hospital also received $500 bonuses for their work during the pandemic, which has killed an estimated 353,000 Americans.
The city of Houston has been hardly-hit by the COVID-19 as close to 2,700 deaths were already recorded and with not less 247,000 confirmed cases in surrounding Harris County.
Employers which includes also their health care providers are now facing a balancing act in getting their workforces vaccinated.
As of the moment, vaccination is not required for the employees of the Houston Methodist Hospital, but it will be eventually for the majority of their workers.
According to CBS News, Despite a number of companies are stopping short of making the shots part of their internal mandatory agreements, they have the right as well to require immunization for most workers under recently passed federal employment guidelines.
Houston Methodist Hospital's spokesperson who received her second dose of the vaccine on Monday shared that she thinks that there are more individuals who want the vaccine that who refuses to have it.
Chief of critical care at Houston's United Memorial Medical Center, Dr. Joseph Varon, recently mentioned concerns regarding nurses in his unit to NPR that there is at least anecdotal evidence of reluctance among a number of health care workers in getting the said shots.
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According to Pew Research Center, concerns regarding the coronavirus vaccines is highest among African Americans, as the center recently found that there is fewer than half of Black adults are planning to get vaccinated, compared to the 60% of Americans overall who intend to avail the shots.
If compared to the White patients, African Americans have less trust in the medical system of the United States, as they often receive worse care based on studies.
In part, it only shows the history regarding the medical mistreatment on Black Americans which includes experimental operations on enslaved Black women from 1845 to 1849 by a surgeon in Alabama J. Marion Sims as well as the Tuskegee Institute experiments in the 1930s which had examined the progression of syphilis in males who were Black.
On the other hand, some experts have backed the idea of offering employees a financial incentive for getting inoculated against coronavirus, Newson6 reported.
However, some economists are saying that the said payments could backfire, and cited studies that had suggested that offering money in exchange for the vaccination could lead to an assumption that the shots are risky that why there is a need for an exchange, ABC13 reported.
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