GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Congressman Mike Gallagher is proposing a very Wisconsin-esque plan to encourage people to get vaccinated.
“We’ve gone from having a supply problem having a demand problem, where we have enough supply but we don’t have enough people wanting the vaccine. The question is: how do you incentivize people to get vaccinated?” Gallagher said. “One option would just be to get prominent people like Aaron Rodgers and Giannis to promote vaccinations, but the other is the simple Wisconsin incentive.”
That incentive? Free beer for getting the shots.
The basic idea would provide coupons for free beer at a local restaurant or brewery as people receive their vaccinations.
“People in Wisconsin like drinking beer, from a public health perspective we need people to get vaccinated, and this accomplishes both of those things…It’s a win-win. You stimulate the local economy with the bars and restaurants that have been hit the [hardest] by the pandemic while also encouraging vaccinations and herd immunity. What could be better than that? ” Gallagher said. “We all want to be in Lambeau in September cheering the Packers on in-person, in a crowded stadium, screaming our our tails off. So we’ve got some work to do to get to that point…Most importantly, we just want to keep our our local businesses and bars and all the good people they employ afloat right now. They’re struggling to find workers they need, so us as customers, we can do a little bit to stimulate demand in the local economy.”
But Gallagher says he stole the idea from Appleton Health Officer Kurt Eggebrecht. And even Eggebrecht wasn’t the first to come up with the idea.
“The fact that New Jersey has stolen this idea from Wisconsin and put it into action should offend all of us here in Titletown,” Gallagher told WTAQ News. “I refuse to lose to dirty Jersey. Alright, Wisconsin? It’s time to step up and get everyone vaccinated so we can just start living our lives again.”
Huge milestone for what has to be the first half-baked idea to become public policy. Wisconsin needs to step up. We cannot, under any circumstances, let New Jersey corner the beer and a shot market.
cc: @JonahDispatch https://t.co/6Vaj8A9Vm7
— Rep. Mike Gallagher (@RepGallagher) May 3, 2021
To work with CDC guidelines that recommend waiting two weeks after the second dose before going back out like normal, Gallagher also suggested having a time-stamp of some sort on the coupons themselves.
While Gallagher says he tried to pitch the idea to the Tavern League of Wisconsin, there are no takers so far. He believes that is due to many people and businesses being risk-averse.
Gallagher says any enterprising county health department or local bar that wants to figure out an approach to the plan should contact his office, and he’ll help coordinate the ‘common sense’ idea.
