E-commerce giant Amazon is reportedly offering workers prizes including $500,000 in cash, a car, and vacation packages in a lottery that employees can only enter by providing proof of coronavirus vaccination.
Bloomberg reports that Amazon has now launched its own vaccine lottery, offering employees who provide proof of vaccination the chance to win cash prizes, cars, and vacations. Unlike other tech giants including Facebook and Google, Amazon has not mandated vaccinations for its 1.3 million employees.
In this June 19, 2019, file photo, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos speaks during the JFK Space Summit at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston. Bezos is one of the 50 Americans who gave the most to charity in 2020, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual rankings. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
However, the company is incentivizing workers to choose to take the vaccine with its new “Max Your Vax” corporate lottery. The announcement comes as Amazon states that workers will have to wear masks at its various warehouses and logistics facilities regardless of whether they have received the vaccine or not. This is a reversal of the company’s previous policy which has stated since May that vaccinated workers could work at the company without a mask.
ROMEOVILLE, IL – AUGUST 01: Workers pack and ship customer orders at the 750,000-square-foot Amazon fulfillment center on August 1, 2017 in Romeoville, Illinois. On August 2, Amazon will be holding job fairs at several fulfillment centers around the country, including the Romeoville facility, in an attempt to hire more than 50,000 workers. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Previously, Amazon offered cash incentives of up to $80 to workers to receive the vaccine. Now, the company is increasing its efforts to have the majority of its workforce vaccinated as online shopping demand continues to rise. According to some Amazon workers and managers, the company is worried that instituting vaccine mandates could result in a portion of the workforce leaving the company.
Amazon will be offering a total of 18 prizes as part of its vaccine lottery, which the company has invested almost $2 million into. There are two $500,000 cash prizes, six $100,000 awards, five new cars, and five vacation packages up for grabs for vaccinated employees.
An Amazon spokesperson told Bloomberg: “We strongly believe that the best way to protect our front-line employees and communities from Covid-19 is through vaccinations. And we are proud to have hosted more than 1,100 on-site vaccination events to help make getting a vaccination as easy as possible for our employees and their household members.”
health worker prepares a dose of the CoronaVac vaccine, developed by China’s Sinovac firm, during a vaccination day against COVID-19 for clinical and medical personnel from the private sector in Caracas on May 28, 2021. (Photo by Yuri CORTEZ / AFP) (Photo by YURI CORTEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
It isn’t just Amazon offering prizes for vaccinations, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) announced a vaccine lottery with $1.5 million in cash prizes in May. Breitbart News reported in May:
In Ohio, a 22-year-old woman became the first of five $1 million winners in the state’s vaccination lottery; she was already vaccinated when the contest began.
Los Angeles is offering a chance to win season tickets to the Kings (hockey) and Galaxy (soccer).
The lotteries have raised questions about how states and cities are spending federal stimulus funds, which had few restrictions — except for the provision that they not be used to offset tax cuts, a provision that is being challenged in court.
Newsom in particular has faced criticism for spending large amounts of money on stimulus payments to residents while he faces a recall election. The state has a $75.7 billion budget surplus, even without $26 billion in federal stimulus allocations.
Read more about Amazon’s new vaccine lottery at Bloomberg here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com