BATON ROUGE, La (BRPROUD) – Louisiana is tied for the fourth-worst vaccination rate among all 50 states, according to a New York Times report. Advocates for the COVID-19 shot in Baton Rouge are not happy about that.

“In order to have normalcy we need everyone to be vaccinated. People need to understand that you have a chance to live or die. We are still in a pandemic,” said Carla Brown.

Brown is part of Covid Crusaders. They go door to door throughout the state to get people signed up for their vaccines. She believes state leaders need to do the same and meet people where they are in order to increase the rate.

“You don’t give up because they told you ‘no’ the first time. You make a list like we do, and you go back and revisit,” said Brown.

The state is trying to motivate people with bonuses, the lottery and other incentives.

“When you have lives on the line you want to try everything,” said Dr. Joseph Kanter with the Louisiana Department of Health.

One incentive is through Louisiana Healthcare Connections. For each vaccination a healthcare provider gives to an eligible Louisiana Healthcare Connections Medicaid member in the month of July, they will earn a $25 bonus payment, on top of the standard reimbursement.

Brown, however, has been dealing with the heartache of losing her husband, David, for almost a year. It’s heartache she doesn’t want others to go through, which is why she is pushing for everyone to get vaccinated.

“My heart is to help people get vaccinated. Every person that gets vaccinated, it lessen that hurt that I’m carrying. We still have holidays coming up. I want you to love that husband, that wife, that son, that daughter, that grandchild and make those cookies but to do that everybody has to be vaccinated,” said Brown.