Amid a fall-off in vaccinations in The Bahamas, billionaire businessman and philanthropist Adrian Fox is putting his money where his mouth is by paying out as much as $100,000 to encourage unvaccinated Bahamians to get the covid-19 vaccine.
The generous effort is being spearheaded by the Fox Foundation, which has poured millions into communities to assist Bahamians who have fallen on hard times.
The Foundation decided to incentivize Bahamians to get the jab after the Ministry of Health warned that 20,000 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine received by the Bahamas government will expire later this month.
“We are going to issue 50 $500 prizes a week and then at the end of the period, there is going to be a grand prize for those who are in that pool, between the 13th and the 31st, of $25,000," said Adrianna Fox of the Fox Foundation.
The names of selected individuals will be announced on ILTV on Saturdays.
“Every week we will do a digital drawing of those persons who took their first shot and those results will be posted on ILTV channel on Saturday. So every Saturday we will do a digital drawing. Every week, 50 persons will win $500", Fox said.
As of December 4, 148,952 people in The Bahamas were fully vaccinated. The government has said it is aiming to have 200,000 people vaccinated by the end of the year but the National COVID-19 Vaccine Consultative Committee is struggling to reach that goal.
In late October, 47,251 doses were administered compared to 61,096 doses in September and 39,840 doses in August.
Over the years, Fox has stepped up to assist the government in bringing relief to Bahamians in need. In September 2019, Fox committed $500,000 to Hurricane Dorian relief after the category 5 hurricane displaced tens of thousands of families and caused over $3 billion in damage on Abaco and Grand Bahama.
“I am giving half a million dollars because I want to see people have some food, and some clothes and whatever; whatever we can do, just do for Abaco and Freeport because they need our help and they need our support right now," Fox said at the time.