Woman wins $1m for getting Covid vaccine

Winners will be announced every Wednesday for four more weeks

The scheme is intended to boost vaccine uptake (AP)

The first winners of Ohio’s vaccination lottery have been announced, with the state handing out a $1 million cheque for one recent graduate and a college scholarship for a teenager – all for getting jabbed.

The drawings were announced on live TV on Wednesday night, declaring Abbigail Bugenske as the winner of the $1 million draw, while Joseph Costello was awarded a full scholarship at Ohio public colleges.

Four more winners of each prize will be announced every Wednesday over the next four weeks.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine rolled out the Vax-a-Million lottery on 12 May as an incentive to combat hesitancy and apathy around vaccinations. The prize money comes from existing federal pandemic relief funding, Mr DeWine said, and the Ohio Lottery will conduct the drawings.

More than 2.7 million adults registered for the cash prize while over 100,000 children aged 12 to 17 applied for the scholarship, which would grant them free tuition, accommodation, and books.

“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 unveiled the lottery system earlier this month. “But truly, the real waste at this point in the pandemic – when the vaccine is readily available to anyone who wants it – is a life lost to Covid-19.”

Although the incentive appears to have boosted uptake, Ohio still lags behind the national average.

An analysis by the Associated Press found that the number of over-16s in Ohio who received their initial Covid-19 vaccine rose by 33 per cent in the week following the prize draw announcement.

However, current vaccination rates are still well below those recorded in April and March. Some 39 per cent of Ohioans are fully vaccinated, while 45 per cent have received one shot of a two dose vaccination.

Half of all American adults are now fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

Marking the milestone on Wednesday, Andy Slavitt, a White House senior adviser on the coronavirus response, said: "This is a major milestone in our country's vaccination efforts. The number was 1 per cent when we entered office 20 January.”

Ohio’s scheme has led to other states adopting similar incentives, including Colorado, Maryland, New York state and Oregon.