Hy-Vee gives $10 gift cards to COVID-19 vaccine recipients

Hy-Vee has begun offering a $10 store gift card to customers who get a full COVID-19 vaccination at one of its pharmacies or vaccine clinics.

The Midwestern grocer said yesterday that, starting June 1, people who complete their COVID immunizations at a Hy-Vee pharmacy or at a pop-up Hy-Vee vaccination clinic — either one or two shots, depending on the vaccine — will receive a $10 Hy-Vee gift card. The full vaccination must be administered between June 1 and Nov. 11, 2021.

Those receiving the two-dose COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech (21 days apart) or Moderna (28 days apart) must get second dose at Hy-Vee to receive the $10 gift card, the West Des Moines, Iowa-based grocery retailer noted. People getting the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine will receive the gift card after the injection is administered.

So far, the Pfizer vaccine is the only COVID vaccination available for children, covering ages 12 and older. The Moderna and J&J vaccines currently are available only for adults, though Moderna announced last week that it plans to seek emergency use authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration in early June for its COVID vaccine to be used for children ages 12 to 17. Hy-Vee said that all minors receiving the Pfizer vaccination at its pharmacies and clinics must have parental or guardian consent.

Related:Kroger dangles incentives for consumers to get COVID-19 shots

Hy-Vee made COVID shots available at all of its 270-plus pharmacies across its Midwestern trade area at the beginning of April and then began providing them on a walk-in basis in late April. The retailer started administering the Pfizer vaccine to children ages 12 to 15 as of May 13, in line with the FDA’s EUA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recent approval of that vaccination for that age group. The grocer, with over 275 stores in eight Midwestern states, said at the time that it already had been offering Pfizer’s vaccine to people 16 and older for several weeks.

With vaccination rates slowing in areas around the country, grocery stores have joined with other retailers and companies in serving up incentives for consumers to get immunized against COVID-19. This week, for example, The Kroger Co. is launching a $5 million giveaway campaign, plus a free-groceries-for-a-year sweepstakes, for people receiving full COVID vaccinations. Also, last month, Meijer began offering customers a $10 coupon when they get a full COVID vaccination at one of its stores, while Target started giving shoppers a $5 in-store coupon after they received a COVID vaccine at a CVS at Target pharmacy.

Related:Meijer has a deal: $10 coupon for a full COVID vaccination

Through early morning May 30, 50.5% of the U.S. population had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, with 40.7% fully immunized, according to CDC data. Among adults, 62.6% had received at least one dose, with 51.5% fully vaccinated. And including adolescent vaccinations, 59.8% of Americans ages 12 and older had gotten at least one shot, with 48.2% fully vaccinated. Overall, 294.9 million of the 366.3 million vaccines delivered by manufacturers had been administered.