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Incentives for COVID-19 Vaccination: Implications for Public Health Preparedness in a New Pandemic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2025

Branko Beronja ,
Jelena Dotlic ,
Vida Jeremic Stojkovic ,
Paul Cummins ,
Marija Milic  and
Tatjana Gazibara Open the ORCID record for Tatjana Gazibara [Opens in a new window]
Branko Beronja
Affiliation:
Institute of Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Visegradska, Belgrade, Serbia
Jelena Dotlic
Affiliation:
Clinic for Obstetrics and Gynecology, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
Vida Jeremic Stojkovic
Affiliation:
Department of Humanities, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
Paul Cummins
Affiliation:
Department of Bioethics Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY, USA
Marija Milic
Affiliation:
Institute of Public Health of Serbia “Dr Milan Jovanovic Batut,” Belgrade, Serbia Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Pristina temporarily seated in Kosovska Mitrovica, Kosovska Mitrovica, Kosovo, Serbia
Tatjana Gazibara*
Affiliation:
Institute of Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Visegradska, Belgrade, Serbia
*
Corresponding author: Tatjana Gazibara; Emails: [email protected]; [email protected]
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Abstract

Objective

To examine opinions about incentives for vaccination against COVID-19.

Methods

A qualitative study was conducted in spring 2022. The study population consisted of pairs of university students and their parents throughout Serbia. The qualitative content analysis was applied.

Results

A total of 18 participants (9 student-parent pairs) were included. The following themes were identified: 1) Attitudes about financial incentives for vaccination, 2) Non-financial incentives for vaccination, and 3) Suggestions to enhance vaccination coverage. Theme 1 comprised several subthemes: General response to money, Dissatisfaction with financial incentives, Satisfaction with financial incentives and Amount of money to change people’s opinion. Most parents and some students expressed a clear dissatisfaction and disapproval of the concept of financial incentives for compliance with vaccination. Financial offers would not make our participants change their position on whether to receive the vaccine, as no major differences in attitude towards vaccinations between the vaccinated and the non-vaccinated study participants was observed. Non-financial incentives were more acceptable compared to financial ones, but they were also seen as beneficial for some and not others.

Conclusions

Financial incentive programs’ potential for inefficiency and public mistrust make other methods to boost vaccine uptake better public health choices for now.

Keywords

COVID-19vaccinationrewardincentivespayment
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 19 , 2025 , e104
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc

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