NYC offers $100 to anyone who gets their first COVID-19 vaccine shot

• NYC offers $100 to anyone who goes to a city-run site to get the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
• The new vaccine incentive was announced amid increased concerns over the Delta variant.
  
• About 41% of NYC residents still haven't gotten the shot, city data said.

New York City announced on Wednesday that anyone can receive $100 if they get the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at any city-run vaccination clinic. The incentive begins on Friday.

The announcement of a new vaccine incentive comes amid increasing concern over the spread of the Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Tuesday that even fully vaccinated people should wear a mask in areas with "substantial or high transmission" of the virus.

A map from the CDC showed that all five of New York City's boroughs have "substantial" levels of community transmission, meaning the new recommendations apply in the city.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Monday that city workers must get the vaccine by September 13 or be subjected to weekly COVID-19 testing.

Data from the Citywide Immunization Registry indicated that 40.8% of New York City residents remain unvaccinated, and 59.2% of all residents have received at least one dose.

Insider previously spoke with top economists who proposed a similar idea - a $1,000 "vaccine stimulus" to combat vaccine hesitancy.

"If we somehow don't get to true immunity, our economy will be operating with a huge weight on its chest," Robert Litan, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who served in President Bill Clinton's administration, told Insider in November.

Click this link to locate a vaccination site in New York City.