根据最近的健康数据，阿肯色州的百万大棒和胡萝卜没能赶上落后的新冠肺炎数据。
阿肯色州州长阿萨·哈钦森借鉴了其他州的经验，例如俄亥俄州和纽约州，并在5月25日推出了针对有资格注射疫苗的居民的疫苗激励计划。这个耗资百万美元的项目为阿肯色州游戏和鱼类委员会发放了一张20美元的阿肯色州彩票奖学金或一张20美元的礼券，用于新的第一剂药物。
根据国家卫生部的数据，在宣布这一消息时，该州7天平均接种新疫苗剂量约为8300剂，与4月初的峰值22000剂相去甚远。数据显示，自那以后，这一数字有所下降并趋于平稳，截至6月28日，7天平均水平为4833。
“我不知道我们是否能够通过购买摆脱困境，”阿肯色州疫苗激励项目的项目主任罗伯特·阿特上校告诉记者美国广播公司附属公司KATV。
斯科特·李尔斯/巴克斯特公报/杂志/今日美国网
乔迪·米勒和旺达·福斯特在阿肯色州的山之家接受新冠肺炎疫苗。，2021年1月22日。
卫生专家表示，阿肯色州应该重新将精力集中在解决该州获得免费疫苗的问题上，如果居民真的想加快步伐，他们应该犹豫不决。
卫生部发言人表示，作为激励计划的一部分，仅发放了2482张彩票和926张游戏和鱼类许可证。
截至周二，126万阿肯色州居民至少接种了一剂疫苗，根据美国农业部的数据，这相当于该州总人口的42%美国疾病控制和预防中心。根据疾控中心的数据，全国54.2%的人口接种了一剂疫苗。
波士顿儿童医院的流行病学家、美国广播公司新闻撰稿人约翰·布朗斯坦博士说，阻碍这些数字的最大问题之一是当地能否进入疫苗接种点。研究数据波士顿儿童医院的计算流行病学实验室发现，阿肯色州的许多县都位于“疫苗沙漠”，那里的疫苗配送中心距离这里超过15分钟的车程。
布朗斯坦说，距离对许多人来说是一个障碍。
“出现的问题是:他们能注射疫苗并从工作中抽出时间吗?”他说。
斯科特·佩斯是阿肯色州的药剂师，也是小石城卡瓦诺药店的老板，他在本月早些时候接受美国广播公司采访时说，旅行问题也影响了参与激励措施的人。
佩斯补充说，兑换彩票或阿肯色州游戏和鱼类证书通常需要额外的步骤，即去当地的卫生单位进行检索。
他告诉美国广播公司新闻，“别忘了，我们正在谈论的人，很多时候，他们一开始就有运输障碍，只是为了获得疫苗。”“因此，当你增加交通障碍来跨越时，再加上其他一些障碍来获得任何激励，这就使得激励变得没有意义了。”
布朗斯坦补充说，对疫苗有效性的犹豫和怀疑阻碍了全国许多人的发展。
Ator告诉KATV，他的办公室将致力于其他策略，包括推动雇主向获得机会的员工提供激励。他以该州不断上升的三角洲变异病例为例表示担忧。
“我担心我们会晚一个月，人们会等到它变得可怕，然后他们会想接种疫苗，人们会因此而受苦，”他说。
布朗斯坦说，这是一个良好的开端，但该州的主要战略是消除疫苗沙漠。他补充说，如果该州与初级保健医生合作，帮助教育并最终分发疫苗，这可能有助于消除后来者的一些担忧。
“他们有信任，可以就疫苗进行一对一的对话，”他说。
任何需要帮助安排免费疫苗预约的人都可以登录vaccines.gov
Arkansas vaccine incentives not working: Health officials
Arkansas's million-dollar stick and carrot has failed to pick up its lagging COVID-19 numbers, according to recent health data.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson took a page from other states,such as Ohio and New York, and introduced a vaccine incentive program for residents who are eligible for their shots on May 25. The million-dollar program gave out an Arkansas Lottery Scholarship $20 scratch-off ticket or a $20 gift certificate for the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission for new first doses.
At the time of the announcement, the state's seven-day average of new vaccine doses administered was around 8,300, a far cry from its peak of 22,000 in early April, according to the state Health Department data. Since then, the numbers have decreased and leveled out and as of June 28, the seven-day average is 4,833, the data showed.
"I don't know if we're going to be able to buy our way out of this," Col. Robert Ator, the program director of the Arkansas vaccine incentive program toldABC affiliate KATV.
Health experts said that Arkansas should refocus its efforts to combat the state's issues on access to free vaccines and hesitancy from residents if they truly want to pick up their pace.
Only 2,482 lottery tickets and 926 Game and Fish Licenses have been given out as part of the incentive program, according to a Health Department spokeswoman.
As of Tuesday, 1.26 million Arkansas residents have at least one vaccine dose, which is equivalent to roughly 42% of the state's entire population, according to data from theU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Nationally, 54.2% of the population has one vaccine dose, according to the CDC.
Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children's Hospital and an ABC News contributor, said one of the biggest problems that are holding back the numbers is local access to a vaccination site.Research datafrom the Computational Epidemiology Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital found that many Arkansas counties are in "vaccine deserts," where a vaccine distribution center is more than a 15-minute drive.
Brownstein said that distance is a hurdle for many.
"The question that comes up is: Can they get the vaccine and get time off from work?" he said.
Scott Pace, an Arkansas-based pharmacist and owner of Kavanaugh Pharmacy in Little Rock, told ABC News in an interview earlier this month that the travel issue also affected people taking part in the incentives.
Pace added that redeeming the lottery ticket or Arkansas Game and Fish certificate often requires the extra step of going to a local health unit for retrieval.
“Don't forget, we're talking about people who, many times, have transportation barriers to begin with just to get the vaccine,” he told ABC News. “So when you add on transportation barriers to jump through, a couple of other hoops to get whatever incentive, it makes the incentive that much less meaningful.”
Brownstein added that hesitancy and skepticism on the vaccine's effectiveness are holding many people back across the country.
Ator told KATV his office would be working on other strategies, including pushing employers to offer incentives to their workers who get their shots. He expressed concern citing the state's rising cases of the delta variant.
"My fear is that we're going to be a month too late and that people are going to wait until it gets scary and then they're going to want to vaccine and people are going to suffer because of it," he said.
Brownstein said that is a good start, but the state's main strategy is to eliminate the vaccine deserts. He added that if the state worked with primary care physicians to help educate and eventually distribute the vaccine, it could help eliminate some of the concerns by latecomers.
"They have the trust and can have the one-on-one conversation about the vaccine," he said.
Anyone who needs help scheduling a free vaccine appointment can log ontovaccines.gov.
