system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: The “COVID lotteries” in the US are a disgusting misuse of taxpayer dollars.

Really, the title says it all. Multiple US states (Ohio, Colorado, California, etc) are giving away multiple millions of dollars in a lottery format to people who have gotten vaccinated against COVID. This money comes from the states (aka, taxes). I feel that this is a gross misuse of funds and that this money could be better spent in 100s of ways. 

I understand the desire to incentivize getting a vax, but this totally missed the mark given the fact that there are still millions of people without a job or insurance, and that the 15 or so months of a shutdown economy has depleted the saving accounts of so many US citizens.
gpt
Lotteries are a great and *cheap* incentive though. Ohio has vaccinated 5 million people... a 1 million dollar lottery is the equivelent of paying them each 20 cents, but is FAR more motivating.  People actually respond to a million dollar lottery.

Not to mention that each dose is already costing the government something like $40.  So this raises the cost from $40 per dose to $40.20 per dose.

It really isn't a significant amount of money on the scale of millions of people, but it is absolutely working and having the intended effect.  Getting covid under control faster will save lives and ultimately allow things to start back up faster probably more than paying for itself.