Abbigail Bugenske of Silverton, Ohio and Joseph Costello of Englewood, Ohio were the first two winners of the lottery set up by the State of Ohio for people who got their coronavirus vaccines, Politico reports.
The program has been dubbed Vax-A-Million. Bugenske won the $1 million prize and Costello will receive a cost-free scholarship to one of Ohio’s state universities in the first of five drawings for prizes, started to promote people getting coronavirus vaccines.
Initial numbers look like the program is working: The number of people in Ohio age 16 and older who received their initial Covid-19 vaccine jumped 33% in the week after the state announced its million-dollar incentive lottery, according to an Associated Press analysis.
People who have received at least one dose of the vaccine in the last two weeks, or people who are fully vaccinated, can voluntarily register for the prizes. The college scholarship is available to people aged 12- to 18-years-old. So far, more than 2.7 million people have registered for the lotteries.
“I know that some may say, ‘DeWine, you’re crazy! This million-dollar drawing idea of yours is a waste of money,’” the governor said when he announced the incentive. But with the vaccine now readily available, the real waste, “is a life lost to Covid-19,” Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine said.