Uber Partners with White House to Offer Free COVID-19 Vaccination Rides

Uber (UBER) is teaming up with the White House to address the transportation barrier that might prevent people from obtaining a COVID-19 shot. The ride-hailing service provider has confirmed that it will offer free round-trip rides to anyone going to vaccination centers.

The campaign, which will run until July 4^th, will offer 4 free rides of up to $25 in value through the app. The company hopes the free rides will help the White House reach its target of vaccinating 70% of the total population by July 4^th.

An announcement from Uber explained, “We’ve built a new easy-to-use in-app experience, integrating vaccines.gov data directly into the Uber app, where users will be able to find nearby available vaccines from tens of thousands of local providers, in addition to information about supply and manufacturers at each location. We will be providing free rides (up to $25 each) for each leg of the trip so people can easily get to and from both shots.”

Any American can use the Uber app to choose a free ride to the vaccination of his or her choice. The rate of vaccination among young people in the U.S. is still very low, with fewer than 7% of 18-24-year-olds having received the COVID-19 vaccine. Through its free ride initiative, Uber hopes to significantly shift that percentage. (See Uber stock analysis on TipRanks).

Wells Fargo analyst Brian Fitzgerald has confirmed they are adding to their position in Uber following the recent double-digit pullback in the market. According to the analyst, Uber is a high COVID bet play that will benefit from the re-opening of the economy.

Fitzgerald stated, “Broad exposure to on demand ecosystem provides resilience and maximizes the secular opportunity. Within on-demand economy stocks, we characterize Uber as a “high risk, high reward” opportunity.”

The analyst has reiterated a Buy rating on the stock with a $78 price target implying 55.91% upside potential to current levels.

Consensus among analysts on Wall Street is a Strong Buy based on 25 Buy and 3 Hold ratings. The average analyst price target of $72.50 implies a 44.91% upside potential to current levels.

UBER scores 7 out of 10 on TipRanks’ Smart Score rating system, implying its performance is likely to align with market averages.

UBER scores 7 out of 10 on TipRanks’ Smart Score rating system, implying its performance is likely to align with market averages.