In an effort to ensure that employees are safe against the spread of the Coronavirus, some retailers are offering one-time bonuses to employees who receive vaccines. Dollar General (DG  ), Trader Joe's, and Instacart are the first major companies to provide compensation.

Dollar General became the first retailer to offer employees compensation for getting vaccines, offering four hours of regular pay in exchange for receiving a shot. According to Dollar General in its press release, the company wanted to compensate employees to allow them to take time off to get vaccinated.

"We do not want our employees to have to choose between receiving a vaccine or coming to work, so we are working to remove barriers (e.g., travel time, mileage, child care needs, etc.) by providing frontline hourly team members with a one-time payment equivalent of four hours of regular pay after receiving a completed COVID-19 vaccination and salaried team members with additional store labor hours to accommodate their time away from the store," Dollar General said.

Instacart and Trader Joe's have since joined Dollar General in offering compensation for employees. Trader Joe's is offering employees two hours of pay in exchange for receiving a vaccine, while Instacart is offering its employees a one time $25 bonus.

The effort to compensate employees for the time taken to get vaccinated comes as distribution efforts are well underway in the United States. Efforts are somewhat impeded by the lack of concrete organization at the federal level. Experts rested the blame on the outgoing Trump administration, which many have criticized as "never having a plan in the first place." The income Biden administration has plans to expand vaccination efforts, which may help streamline the currently-rocky distribution process.

Current federal guidance places frontline workers at stores such as Dollar General and Trader Joe's, and the many chains that Instacart operates out of in the second tier of recipients after healthcare workers, nursing home residents, those with complicating conditions (such as Asthma), and Americans over 65. If the Biden administration maintains this guidance, the efforts of Dollar General, Trader Joe's, and Instacart seem well-timed to help accelerate the process of vaccinating frontline workers in the coming months.