By Charles Boothe, Bluefield Daily Telegraph
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia residents between 16 and 35 years old who are fully vaccinated may be given the option to apply for a $100 savings bond or receive a $100 gift card.
Gov. Jim Justice said Monday during his pandemic briefing that is what is in the process now after initially trying to obtain savings bonds for those who get vaccinated.
“We are working a lot of ways on this,” he said, after learning earlier the savings bond option for up to 200,000 or more people may not be doable. “We are working with both of these (savings bonds and $100 gift cards) now. We are going to give flexibility to get it two ways.”
So far, according to the state COVID-19 DHHR dashboard, about 125,000 in that age group have had at least one dose and all who get fully vaccinated will receive the $100.
Justice’s goal is for at least 275,000 of the total 380,000 in that age group to get vaccinated, at a cost of about $27 million, which will come from CARES Act funding that was set aside last year for pandemic related expenses…
