Tarrant County revisiting cash incentives to boost COVID-19 vaccination rates

Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley is revisiting the idea of a cash incentive to boost vaccination rates.

Tarrant County is struggling under the highest COVID hospitalization rate in North Texas.

Whitley pointed to Harris County, where first-dose recipients can receive $100.

A plan that appears to be working in Harris County is something Tarrant County will give a serious look at.

Meantime, there’s a message for parents in hopes of getting more kids vaccinated. 

The COVID-19 delta variant is surging in Tarrant County.

Public Health Director Vinny Taneja on Tuesday had a desperate plea to parents.

"These kids can’t decide for themselves to go get vaccinated.  But as parents, please protect them," he said. "You just have to look at what’s happening in the schools and what’s happening in the hospitals. The pediatric population is the prime target now with this delta surge. Yes, they’re resilient. But why risk them."

Community spread throughout the county is considered urgently high, even with a slight decline in hospitalizations.

Officials point out currently one in five people being tested in Tarrant County is positive.

Judge Glenn Whitley says he wants to revisit incentives for vaccinations, which seem to be working in the metro Houston area. 

"Since the governor will not allow us to do anything else, maybe we could look at some sort of incentive program because Harris County is saying it’s been very successful there," he said.

The judge says possibilities would involve Tarrant County employees and county residents in general. 

"We’re going to look at incentivizing our own employees. Because if we can keep them from getting COVID, that’s a cost to our benefit plan but," Whitley said. "It’s also a situation where we’re going to look at incentivizing everybody in the county in an effort to try and flatten this out and begin to see hopefully some progress made."

Judge Whitley has not yet mentioned a specific incentive to be considered, but he did reference that the dollar amount or value of incentives offered in Harris County is continuing to increase.