West Virginia Will Give Young Residents $100 To Get COVID-19 Vaccine

Governor Jim Justice is offering an incentive for younger West Virginia residents to get vaccinated.

During a press conference on Monday, Gov. Justice announced residents between the ages of 16 and 35 will be eligible for a $100 savings bond if they get the COVID-19 vaccine (April 26), WSAZ reports.

“We’re going to give every single one of these people, the people that already stepped up, our young people that have already stepped up and been vaccinated, and every single one of our young people, we’re going to give a $100 savings bond to every single one that steps up and takes their vaccines,” Gov. Justice said.

Gov. Justice's office also issued a press release on Monday, which reiterated that the incentive will be retroactive, allowing West Virginia residents between ages 16 to 35 to receive the bond if they've already been vaccinated.

“Our kids today probably don’t really realize just how important they are in shutting this thing down,” Gov. Justice said. “I’m trying to come up with a way that’s truly going to motivate them – and us – to get over the hump.”

Gov. Justice said West Virginia is aiming to have more than 70% of its eligible population vaccinated, but only 52% percent of the 1.47 million residents currently eligible have received at least one dose as of Monday and a demand for vaccines has decreased in recent weeks.

Gov. Justice said there's still plenty of room to increase vaccination totals among the 380,000 eligible residents between the ages of 16 and 35.

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