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'$100 won't cut it' | Many East Texans would turn down President Biden's incentive to get vaccinated

Some even said there’s no bribe big enough to change their minds.

TEXAS, USA — Thursday, President Biden announced a host of pushes to slow COVID-19’s spread, one of them being a payment for those who decide to get their shots. 

"Even if they have the shot, they still die," said resident Trisha Mitchell as she stood beside her husband, Kevin. "There’s been a lot of people on our floor that I have had to fit in body bags because they're dying of COVID."

Trisha and Kevin both work in a hospital, are unvaccinated, and don’t plan on changing that.  

The couple is worried they’d be risking their health rather than protecting it if they got the shot. The national rate for those fully vaccinated sits just below 50%. In East Texas, it's 35%. 

President Joe Biden said he hopes this incentive would improve those statistics.

"I know that paying people to get vaccinated might sound unfair to folks who have gotten vaccinated already, but here's the deal, if incentives help us beat this virus, I believe we should use them," President Biden said. 

Everyone CBS19 spoke with, vaccinated or not, agreed $100 is not enough to change someone's mind.

"At this point in time, if it's not clear to you that the conspiracy theories about vaccines are completely made up politically, I don't know if $100 is enough to overcome that level of stupid," Toby Wahl said.

Some even said there’s no amount of money that would make the cut. 

Kevin says the only way he’d get the shot is if his job made him.

With more facilities, including hospitals, deciding to enforce vaccinations, his condition may not be too farfetched. 

Also on Thursday, Governor Greg Abbott reemphasized the state's stance on vaccine mandates. He said though vaccines are the most effective defense against the virus, public and private entities that get state money cannot mandate proof of COVID-19 vaccination statue.

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