Rutgers offers $500 Visa gift card raffle to vaccinated students

To motivate students into getting meningitis B vaccinations, the University will be holding a raffle for students who are up to date with their vaccinations will be entered into a give away five $500 Visa gift cards, said Jeanne Bernard, assistant director of marketing for Health & Wellness. 

Any student that is up to date with their vaccinations, has completed the series, has started the series and is not yet eligible for another shot or has had a booster shot because they had the first shot more than a year ago, is eligible for the drawing, Bernard said. 

“We’re incentivizing taking care of your health, not just compliance,” Bernard said.

The outbreak, which began last year, will continue for an entire year after the last case of meningitis B has occurred, said Melodee Lasky, executive vice chancellor of the Office of Student Health. The University will continue its surveillance of the outbreak, Lasky said. 

The Daily Targum reported that Rutgers was experiencing a meningitis B outbreak on April 19, so the outbreak will continue until then if there are no new cases. 

“We are still highly recommending students get vaccinated,” Lasky said. 

A meningitis B clinic will be held in early October for students. 

“So far we have had no new cases, we will continue with surveillance of new cases for the entire year,” Lasky said. 

 Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article said that the gift card raffle run by Rutgers Student Health is open to students in compliance with their vaccinations.