Americans vote infamously with their portfolios. It turns out they can also be vaccinated against Covid with their wallets.
In the two weeks since Delta Air Lines announced a $ 200 monthly health insurance surcharge for unvaccinated employees, 20 percent of Delta’s unvaccinated employees have already gotten the punch, said Dr. Henry Ting, head of Delta Health, at an information session of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Thursday. “I think [that’s] a large number in terms of displacement from this group which is more reluctant, ”he said.
Of the airline’s 80,000 employees, 20,000 are not yet vaccinated, added Ting, who is also an adjunct professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and professor emeritus at Mayo Clinic School of Medicine.
The surcharge was first announced on August 25 and will take effect on November 1. Delta CEO Ed Bastian wrote in the employees ’note announcing the move. The airline estimated that the average medical cost associated with a hospital stay for Covid-19 cost the company $ 50,000 per person.
This increase in vaccination among Delta ranges is somewhat surprising: recent surveys have shown that paying people to get vaccinated is not enough to influence those who strongly oppose the vaccine. But the airline’s negative financial incentive has had a clear echo.
The announcement raised Delta’s vaccination rate from 74 percent to 78 percent in just two weeks, according to Ting, who noted that the airline’s current unvaccinated population represents a cohort of people who are “the most reluctant. between any group, nationally or at Delta Air Lines “. . “These people are on the fence, they have questions and they want to investigate further to make a decision on their own timeline,” he said.
Disease control and prevention centers rigorously monitor, examine, and evaluate the safety and efficacy of Covid vaccines. A large amount of data shows that vaccines effectively protect against Covid.
Ting said he continues to meet with employees individually to educate them about the importance of vaccination, in hopes that they will speed up their personal deadlines.
In particular, the Atlanta airline did not see an increase in employee resignations as a result of the announcement, Ting said at the briefing. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, less than 2% of people say they would rather leave their job than be forced to take the Covid vaccine.
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