Atlanta students who get COVID vaccines to receive gift cards

Atlanta students could take home up to $200 in gift cards if they get fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Atlanta Public Schools will provide $50 debit cards to the first 100 students who get the shots at upcoming vaccination events. The Fulton County Board of Health also will hand out a limited number of $50 gift cards per vaccine dose to students and their eligible family members.

The first vaccination event takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Carver and Douglass high schools. The second is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 20 at the same sites.

All told, APS students could receive up to $200 if they get both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, while their eligible family members can receive up to $100.

APS will pay for its share of the incentive program using federal COVID-19 stimulus dollars.

District officials said they worked with the county health agency to target schools and neighborhoods with lower vaccination participation rates and that are deemed as more vulnerable because of factors such as transportation access and socio-economic status.

“We’re really trying to encourage our students to take advantage of the vaccine opportunity,” said Katika Lovett, assistant superintendent of student services, at a recent school board meeting.

As of late August, about a quarter of the district’s more than 20,000 eligible students, age 12 and up, had been fully vaccinated. The vaccine is expected to be available in the coming weeks for children ages 5-11.

The district’s number of COVID-19 cases have been trending down in recent weeks. For the week ending Oct. 22, APS recorded 74 cases of COVID-19 among staff and students.