A Shot At A Full Year’s Pay
DMV IT Giant Offers Ten Employees A Year’s Salary As Prize During Vaccination Boost Effort
By Maria Lopez-Bernstein
The science is loud and clear. The way to getting back to our new normal is to beat COVID-19 via the vaccines. In response to a mid-spring slowdown in vaccination rates, state leaders got onboard to aid the vaccination efforts by offering incentives – anything from gift card giveaways to college scholarships to $5 million prizes.
Maryland Gov. Larry J. Hogan is following up his adult vaccine incentive push with a $1 million package aimed at college students --- giving them an opportunity to get $50,000 grants for getting vaccinated.
Now, the business sector is dipping its feet into the momentum pool. Leidos, a Virginia-based IT government contractor, valued at $14.5 billion, is offering a vaccine lottery wherein 10 randomly selected employees will win a full year’s salary – just for getting the shot.
Leidos chairman and CEO Roger Krone announces 'Move the Needle' sweepstakes
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 2 in 5 U.S. adults are not fully vaccinated. The CDC reported July 3 that 67% of U.S. adults have received at least one dose of either the Pfizer, Moderna or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine and nearly 60% are fully vaccinated, but it varies greatly by region. These rates have fallen short of President Joe Biden’s July 4 goal of a 70% first dose vaccination rate – the minimum rate that experts estimate is necessary for herd immunity.
And as the U.S. continues experiencing this slow down vaccination trend, employers in the business and healthcare sectors are trying to move that needle, either gently encouraging or downright mandating employees return to their office fully inoculated. And as this raises eyebrows and ethical issues for some, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has confirmed that federal law, including the Americans With Disabilities Act, does not preclude companies from making vaccinations mandatory in the workforce.
Leidos has chosen to step up and change the trend. And this is significant to the DMV.
The IT giant lost eight employees to the pandemic, including Keith Redding who was among the first to die of COVID-19 in the DMV. It has put aside $1 million toward the Move the Needle sweepstakes campaign in hope that it motivates its workforce of 40,000 to return to the office fully vaccinated. The sweepstakes launched June 28, and it will continue through October 29.
“For more than 50 years, Leidos’ mission has been to make the world safer, healthier and more efficient. Today we are doubling down on that charter,” Roger Krone, Leidos’ CEO, said in a statement. “Through this campaign, we are investing in our people and providing a tangible incentive to save lives. If it encourages even one person to get the vaccine, it’s money well spent.”
Krone and other company executives said they created the lottery after Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced five $1 million prizes and five four-year scholarships to vaccinated state residents.
Other states that offered a lottery system to try to increase its vaccination efforts include Oregon, California, West Virginia, New York, and Maryland.
