By JORDAN GREEN, Editor-in-Chief
More than 200 students, faculty and staff have signed up to earn $100 as part of Northwestern’s new vaccine incentive program, and officials are encouraging more people to participate.
Officials announced Aug. 17 that the university will pay $100 to all university students and employees who have been vaccinated or who become vaccinated during the semester. The program began Aug. 16 and ends Nov. 19.
“We’re trying not to strong-arm,” said Northwestern President Dr. Janet Cunningham. “We’re trying to say, ‘Help us help you stay in face-to-face classes.’”
Northwestern is one of several universities across Oklahoma that is encouraging immunization as active coronavirus case numbers ramp up across the Sooner State. With the delta variant of the virus spreading, schools across the nation have reinstated mask mandates, and some are requiring students and staffers to become vaccinated.
Northwestern students will be required to show proof of their vaccination before they’re eligible for the $100 incentive.
To enter the voluntary program, students must take pictures of the front and back of their vaccination cards. Then, they’ll have to email those pictures, along with their names and student ID numbers, to covid@nwosu.edu.
Brenner Clark, a junior nursing major, was one of the first Northwestern students to become immunized in 2021. He said he plans to sign up for the program.
“With the incentive of the money, people will be able to see that and say, ‘Hey, if I do this simple thing, then I should be able to get the money, and I’m helping out my community while I’m doing it,’” Clark said.
Payments will come in three rounds, with the first being made Sept. 17. That money will be given to participants who submit proof of vaccination by Sept. 8. Participants who submit proof of vaccination by Oct. 6 will be paid on Oct. 18, and participants who complete the process by Nov. 19 will be paid on Dec. 1.
The university is paying for the program using money it obtained from the CARES Act, which Congress passed to alleviate the financial effects of the pandemic across the nation.
Students must go to the university’s business office and sign up to have the money deposited directly into their bank accounts.
College students can use the money from the program to further their educations, Clark said.
“Sometimes, $100 can be a new book for a college student,” Clark said. “In nursing, it probably is going to go pretty quickly, but it’s going to a good place, and it’s going to help me in the future. It’s going toward certifications, membership dues and everything else.”
Cayla Smither, a graduate student who works at the Share Convalescent Home in Alva, attended a university vaccination clinic Wednesday. She said she was getting vaccinated to protect nursing home residents.
“I just want to be safe,” she said. “A lot of people are getting sick, and … I don’t want to get my residents sick.”
Smither said she is looking forward to getting her $100, but that the incentive isn’t the main reason she decided to get vaccinated.
“It’ll be nice to get the $100,” she said. “If it motivates you, let’s all try to beat this COVID virus.”
Not all students say money will persuade them to become vaccinated, however.
Chris Heiskell, a sophomore business administration major, said he considered taking the vaccine once the program was announced. For now, he’ll hold off.
“It’s mostly just kind of my choice and what I feel safe doing,” Heiskell said.
Heiskell said he’s concerned that vaccines could have negative side effects in the future, but doctors and scientists across the state and nation have publicly said vaccines are safe and effective.
An August poll conducted by Oklahoma City firm Cole, Hargrave, Snodgrass & Associates found that roughly 65% of Oklahomans believe vaccines are safe and effective. The poll, conducted of 500 registered voters, has a margin of error of 4.3%.
Heiskell said he believes universities should emphasize that becoming vaccinated is a choice.
“I never got offered $100 to get the flu shot so I could go back to school or get the hepatitis B shot so I could go to college,” Heiskell said. “It makes your head wonder, why have they blown this into so big of a proportion to where they’re offering to pay people left and right now just to get it?”
Students who have health-related or religious reasons not to be vaccinated can still enter the program, Cunningham said.
“I’m not going to discount that,” Cunningham said. “That’s all we can do. We can’t force people. I wouldn’t want to force people.”
The university will offer vaccination clinics on Sept. 3 and Sept. 24, allowing Rangers to get the two-dose Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
More vaccination clinics may be scheduled, and the vaccine is also available at local pharmacies, Cunningham said.
“I’m hoping that it makes a difference,” Cunningham said.