UPDATE: Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken should be doing more to encourage vaccination
l3wis UPDATE:Â Actually, when you think about it, giving people $100 for two shots would NOT be a handout. Technically two shots cost us $90 as Federal taxpayers, so you could look at it as a tax refund on the vaccination and NOT a handout.
While I somewhat agree with the premise that we shouldn’t have to pay people to take a FREE vaccine, there is much more the city and the mayor could do to encourage vaccination;
“While we want those who have not been vaccinated to step up to the plate and get their shot, I think we can trust people to make their own health care decisions without the need for a government handout,†TenHaken said in a statement sent to the Argus Leader.
This is certainly an interesting statement about government handouts considering this;
South Dakota has received more than $2 billion in federal stimulus since the start of the pandemic, with more than $50 million of that funneled to the city of Sioux Falls.
So instead of incentivizing people with a Bennie, the city has spent most of this money on paying off bonds, building parks and other NON-RELATED covid expenses. I have even thought that how they spent some of this money was against Federal mandates.
Like I said, setting the precedent of giving people money to get a FREE vaccine would NOT be good, and I disagree with Biden on this, but the city already set a bad precedent by spending Covid money on things un-related to Covid which I think is far more nefarious.
They could have spent just 10% of the money and plastered this town with billboards, media PSA’s and print ads telling people why the vaccine is safe and should be taken. The billboards could show people dying on a ventilators, they could point out that 99.4% of all people getting hospitalized or dying of Covid are unvaccinated, or more importantly they could be telling people that the science and technology behind mNRA has been studied for around 30 years!!!! The only thing experimental about the vaccination is that it hasn’t had long term clinical trials, which I will admit does cause some anxiety, but the science has been around a long time.
Also, instead of the $100 incentive the city could also spend the money on workforce development, affordable housing, and public transportation. They could also put residents who have already been vaccinated and those willing to get it (2nd shot) to enter a city lottery where we could give out FREE community development grants to do needed repairs to their homes.
There are many ways to get creative with vaccination promotion.
The city should also have a vaccination clinic that runs Monday-Friday at Falls Community Health. Maybe they do, but I have not heard of it.
Let’s face it, the quickest way to get back to normal and turn around the economy is if herd immunity can be achieved, that is why Noem and TenHaken’s rank hypocrisy astonishes me. I agree people have the right to refuse the vaccination, but you have a duty as elected officials, with billions in your coffers from Federal taxpayers to educate people on the importance of this.
I ask Kristi and Paul the simple question I ask many conservatives who chose personally to get the vaccination. Didn’t you get it for the safety of your own health, your family’s health and the health of your community? They usually answer yes. Then why wouldn’t you encourage others? It’s mind boggling.
