As a way to increase the inoculation rate among its employees, Leidos Inc has set aside $1 million to reward 10 randomly selected workers through its vaccine lottery, The Washington Post reported on Monday.
The Reston-based IT firm, a government contractor with a global workforce of 40,000, said those that win will receive a year’s pay.
"Our company, like the country at large, has seen a bit of a slowdown in the number of people actually getting the vaccine," Leidos Chairman and Chief Executive Roger Krone told The Post. "We see a huge need to gently push people who are on the fence, and give them one more reason to do it."
Even though there are plenty of vaccine supplies available, more than two in five adults in the United States have still not been fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Biden administration fell short of reaching its goal of having at least 70% receiving at least one dose of the vaccine by the Fourth of July, with only 67% having done so as of July 3.
Seventy percent is considered an important benchmark toward achieving herd immunity.
Even though Leidos has not suffered from widespread outbreaks of the coronavirus among its workers as has occurred in the some industries, such as grocery and meatpacking, eight of its employees have died from the pandemic.
However, the delta variant has increased the risk significantly for companies like Leidos, which are preparing for a full return to in-person work.
More than 600,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus since the crisis began last year.
Although federal law does not forbid businesses from making vaccinations mandatory in the workforce, those companies that have taken that route have often caused controversy, according to the Post.
This has led others to try different means. Retail and grocery chains have used various incentives to encourage vaccinations, in most cases involving a day off or a few hundred dollars.
But Krone and other Leidos executives, seeking a more lucrative program, said they chose a lottery after Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced that he would offer five $1 million prizes to vaccinated state residents, along with four-year college scholarships for five vaccinated Ohioans younger than 18.
Five days after its rollout, the Ohio Department of Health announced that the campaign had boosted by 28% the vaccination rates of residents 16 and older.
Leidos’s lottery will award each employee the equivalent of one year of salary. Since managers are not allowed to take part in the draw, the company estimates its outlay will be about $1 million
Leidos said that in the week since it announced the lottery, more than a third of its workforce has already enrolled.
"In the end, in a time of crisis, what people are about is providing safety, health and security for their family," Krone said. "I can’t wait to celebrate our first few winners."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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