Democratic Mayoral candidate Ray McGuire is pushing a plan to boost the city's vaccination numbers by paying New Yorkers to get a shot.

Part of his proposal includes giving every vaccinated New Yorker $100 to be used at small businesses in the city. He said the money would come from federal relief money and would be offered to up to 1 million New Yorkers.

“It'll help save the city money in the long run by avoiding the cost of empty vax sites,” McGuire told NY1.

“We have the capacity to do it. We need to incentivize and educate and inform New Yorkers to make it more accessible, especially in the demographics that have been the hardest hit," he said. 

McGuire also wants to remove barriers to vaccine access by expanding outreach to non-English speakers and building upon mobile vaccine sites.

He said only one out of five Black New Yorkers has been vaccinated and that his campaign is already trying to spread awareness in areas with low-vaccination levels.

“I’m not waiting until I’m the mayor,” McGuire said.

He says his team has been knocking on doors and making calls to get more shots in arms.

The candidate also commented on rival Scott Stringer, who’s denying an allegation of sexual assault from a woman who says she interned for him in 2001.

“We have to stand with women, he said. “The allegations are clearly serious, highly credible. So we’ll wait to see how this works out.”

McGuire has been a finance professional for most of his career and built his candidacy off significant Wall Street experience.

“I am not a politician. They had their chance,” McGuire said.

He said he’s helped create more wealth than all of his opponents combined, and has experience leading and building teams.

After worked at Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, McGuire moved to Citigroup in 2005. There, he served as the global co-head of investment banking.

He also was an asset and adviser for several major companies and the Obama administration.

Despite his lack of government experience, McGuire is confident he can connect with all New Yorkers. But an exclusive NY1/Ipsos poll shows he sits near the back of the pack among likely Democratic voters, though many say they’re still undecided.

McGuire joined Mornings On 1 Thursday as part of NY1’s ongoing series of interviews with leading candidates for mayor.​