US$5 million Covid vaccine lottery launched in US state

The move comes amid flagging take up among Ohians to take the jab, Governor Mike DeWine said.

Governor DeWine made the announcement this week which will see one person over the next five weeks winning US$1 million in cash. Also among the cash incentives is the state promising full four-year university scholarship to five lucky teenagers. Only people who have taken the covid-19 vaccine will be eligible.

"Yes it will. It’s a human psychological foible that we tend to focus more on the prize and less on the chance of winning that prize,” Zoe McLaren health economist at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, told Ohio State media the Cincinnati Enquirer. 

"The Ohio design is really quite good. Not only are people attracted to the magnitude of the prize, they can anticipate the regret they will feel if they don’t get vaccinated and then see other people win,” added in the same article, Dr. David A. Asch, head of the Center for Health Care Innovation at University of Pennsylvania.

Two weeks from tonight on May 26th, we will announce a winner of a separate drawing for adults who have received at least their first dose of the vaccine. This announcement will occur each Wednesday for five weeks, and the winner each Wednesday will receive one million dollars.

— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) May 12, 2021

The first draw is set for May 26, 2021, Governor DeWine said, noting that the funds have been allocated from the federal government’s coronavirus relief fund.

The United States is among the leading countries to have inoculated more than 50 percent of their population in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

However, with close to 60 percent of its people taking the jab, the US is reporting a decline in persons wanting to be vaccinated due to doubts about its efficacy.

According to US data, approximately 81 percent of the 11 million vaccines distributed so far in Ohio have been administered, but this is only 42 percent of its population to date.

Other states have been offering their own incentives to encourage their population to take the Covid shot, but Ohio has taken their game to an extraordinary new level.