Free booze, baseball tickets offered as U.S. demand for COVID-19 vaccine drops - Yahoo News

(Reuters) - Robert Day walked up to a house in northwest Detroit, eager to talk about nearby COVID-19 vaccination sites and pitch a local program that pays $50 to anyone who brings someone to a clinic to get inoculated.

"That’s just one person’s opinion,” said Day, a volunteer helping the Michigan city convince more people to get vaccinated, before he moved on to the next home on Tuesday.

That is forcing public health officials to try new strategies to persuade people to get the shot, efforts that range from creative gimmicks to grassroots outreach resembling get-out-the-vote drives.

adults get at least their first shot by the Independence Day holiday on July 4, shifting the country's inoculation strategy from mass vaccination sites to pharmacies and mobile and pop-up clinics with walk-in availability.

adults are fully vaccinated and more than 56%, or 145.7 million people, have received at least one shot as of Tuesday, according to CDC data.

Public health experts said that while federal money and publicity campaigns can help, the toughest work will need to be done by local health officials, doctors and pharmacists to reach harder-to-vaccinate populations.

It is unlikely that outreach campaigns will persuade those who are firmly opposed to vaccination in general, experts said.