Target to provide four hours pay, free Lyft ride for workers to get vaccinated

Target on Wednesday announced that it would pay its U.S. workers and offer them a free Lyft ride so they could get to and from their coronavirus vaccination appointments.

“Taking care of our team has been at the heart of every decision we’ve made since the coronavirus started, and this point in the pandemic is no different,” Chief Human Resources Officer Melissa Kremer said in a statement. “As more vaccines become available, especially for frontline and essential workers, we’ll help our team members across the country get the information and access they need.”

The mega retailer said it would provide up to four hours of pay — two hours for each vaccine dose — to hourly team members. It would also offer to cover Lyft rides up to $15 each way.

However, the Minnesota-based corporation said it doesn’t plan on requiring the inoculations for employees. 

Target announced last month that it will give all of its hourly workers a $500 bonus for their efforts amid the coronavirus pandemic. This will mark the fifth time the retail giant has recognized its employees monetarily since the beginning of the health crisis. 

Target employees more than 350,000 people in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Several other major retailers, including Aldi, Trader Joe’s and Dollar General, are also providing employees with financial incentives to get vaccinated.

Grocery deliver service Instacart said last month that it would provide a $25 stipend to gig workers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

Uber and Walgreens announced on Tuesday that they are partnering to offer free rides to COVID-19 vaccination sites in an effort to expand vaccine availability in communities of color. The program will begin in Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, and El Paso, Texas.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than 32.8 million people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, with more than 9.8 million getting both doses.

However, two-thirds of Americans surveyed in a new Gallup poll expressed dissatisfaction with the country’s rollout of the vaccine.