CLEVELAND, Ohio – Gov. Mike DeWine on Thursday announced a new vaccine lottery aimed at motivating younger Ohioans to get vaccinated, including five $100,000 scholarships for winners.
DeWine said the incentive program – called Ohio Vax-2-School – is aimed at ensuring younger Ohioans get vaccinated for coronavirus, which will help alleviate the hospital resources already being stretched thin by a surge in cases, as well as make sure Ohio students continue to have in-classroom opportunities in schools. The drawings will be held daily Oct. 11-15.
“The best way for those who are 12 and above, the best way to stay in school is to become vaccinated,” DeWine said during a 2 p.m. coronavirus press briefing. “The best way to run cross-country on Saturday morning, if that’s what you love to do, is to get vaccinated. The best way to play football on Friday night is to become vaccinated.”
The Vax-2-School program will run similarly to the governor’s previous incentive program, Vax-A-Million. In the latter sweepstakes, all vaccinated Ohioans older than 18 were eligible for five $1 million prizes, while eligible vaccinated children could win five full-ride scholarship prizes. DeWine called the Vax-A-Million program a success, though a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found the program had limited value.
Under Vax-2-School, five vaccinated Ohioans aged 25 or younger will be eligible for five $100,000 scholarship prizes under the Vax-2-School program. Another 50 people can win $10,000 scholarships.
The scholarships can be used for colleges and universities – both in-state and out-of-state – as well as technical college or career and job training, DeWine said. A spokesman later clarified that the prizes could also be used for existing student-loan debt.
“I don’t say our program is guaranteed to work or a miracle, but we think it will help,” DeWine said. “We think it will make a difference.”
Many colleges and universities, including most of Ohio’s largest institutions, have already mandated vaccinations for students, including Ohio State University, the University of Akron, Bowling Green State University, the University of Cincinnati, Cleveland State University, Kent State University, Miami University, the University of Toledo and Xavier University.
Nevertheless, DeWine said the program was not incentivizing something that is already required by much of the target population and there were still incentives for people in that age group who have no interest in going to college.
“You can use that money to any kind of any, really, advancement, any kind of education,” DeWine said. “It’s not just kids who are going to a four-year college. They can go to a two-year. They can go to any number of – learn any kind of trade. It’s wide open.”
The governor said he limited the new program to scholarships partly because of the reaction he got to Vax-A-Million’s $1 million cash prizes compared to the college scholarship prizes.
“Frankly, I listen to what people tell me,” he said. “As I talk to people around the state, it was clear with Vax-A-Million they were comfortable with scholarships.”
The Ohio Department of Health will hold a press conference in the next week outlining how eligible participants can sign up, DeWine said. The program will be funded with existing coronavirus relief appropriations.
A little more than half of Ohioans – 53.85% – had received their first dose of the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccine or the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
However, older Ohioans are overwhelmingly more likely to be vaccinated than their younger counterparts, DeWine said.
The vaccination rate for Ohioans older than 40 is 73%, with that number climbing to 84% for Ohioans 65 and older, DeWine said. Conversely, the vaccination rate for Ohioans younger than 40 is only 46%.
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