Delta Air Lines shows charging fees is one way to motivate workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Since the airline announced two weeks ago that it would start charging unvaccinated workers $200 monthly, its COVID-19 vaccination rate has climbed from 74% to 79% as of Friday, a company official told McClatchy News.

That’s about 20% of Delta’s unvaccinated workers pulling up their sleeves for the shot, said the airline’s chief health officer Dr. Henry Ting in an Infectious Diseases Society of America briefing Thursday.

“I think (that’s) a huge number in terms of shifting that group that’s most reluctant,” he said during the briefing.

An additional 20,000 have yet to be vaccinated out of Delta’s 80,000 employees, Ting said.

To reach that goal, the company has already added on-site vaccination clinics and implemented a lottery to encourage vaccination, and Ting is going around talking to employees personally, he said.

The $200 monthly surcharge begins Nov. 1 for any unvaccinated employee enrolled in “Delta’s account-based healthcare plan,” CEO Ed Bastian said in a memo.

“The average hospital stay for COVID-19 has cost Delta $50,000 per person,” Bastian added. “This surcharge will be necessary to address the financial risk the decision to not vaccinate is creating for our company.”

Starting Sept. 12, anyone who is not fully vaccinated will be required to take a COVID-19 test each week, Bastian said.

All unvaccinated employees are also required to wear face masks indoors, with the protocol in place until “community case rates stabilize,” Bastian said. Come Sept. 30, COVID-19 pay protection will also be given only to fully vaccinated employees who experience breakthrough infections.

United Airlines became the first major airline to require COVID vaccination for its employees in August, McClatchy News previously reported.

Meanwhile, 17% of 961 companies who employ a combined total of 9.7 million said they were toying with the idea of making unvaccinated workers pay an additional health-care cost, MarketWatch reported.

More than 208 million people in the U.S. have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, or 62.7% of the total population, as of Sept. 10, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 177 million people, or 53.4% of the population, are fully vaccinated.

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