Residents of Mills will get up to $100 off of their water bills if they get vaccinated against the coronavirus, thanks to an incentive program launched by the Natrona County Health Department.
The department has partnered with the City of Mills to offer two $50 vouchers — one for each dose of the vaccine — to those who get vaccinated at the department’s mobile clinic in the next week.
City community development director Sabrina Kemper told Cowboy State Daily that the department decided to offer the vouchers, which are being paid for with federal coronavirus relief funds, to battle Mills’ low vaccination rate. Natrona County’s total vaccination rate is 34.3%.
“We originally thought about offering the vouchers for restaurants in the area, so we could promote the vaccines and local businesses,” Kemper said. “But due to regulations with the vouchers, we couldn’t do that. So we had to get creative.”
There will be a limit of two vouchers per household, Kemper said.
Gov. Mark Gordon’s office approved the incentive program on Monday.
Other vaccine incentive programs have been implemented across the state, such as the Cheyenne-Laramie County Health Department raffling off free Cheyenne Frontier Days concert tickets or the University of Wyoming and the City of Cheyenne offering a personal day off to employees who get vaccinated. The Cheyenne Regional Medical Center is offering paid time off or cash as an incentive to its employees to get vaccinated.
President Joe Biden’s administration urged state and local governments in late July to use coronavirus relief package funds to incentivize vaccinations by offering $100 to people who got the shots, according to The Associated Press.