RTS, Trillium offer $50 gift cards in exchange for COVID shot

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — Want $50? It’s the cost Trillium Health is willing to give in exchange for getting a COVID shot.

Trillium partnered with Regional Transit Services Wednesday to give out shots, and in exchange, participants got a $50 gift card for the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, or two $25 gift cards for the two-dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccine.

The $25 gift cards will be given out at each shot.

The shots were given out at the RTS Transit Center on St. Paul Street from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

"We do still encounter people who are just haven’t had the opportunity to get vaccinated and haven’t had time to make it to their doctor’s office or any of these other vaccination events," said nurse practitioner Sean Owen. "But they’re able to make it when it’s just a quick stop on their way home for on their way to work."

Owen said he’s also seeing people more concerned now that the delta variant is dominant.

Trillium said the gift cards were obtained through a grant funded by the Community Health Care Association of New York State. It will also be offering free walk-in STD/HIV/Hepatitis C testing.