Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine announced on Wednesday that adults who get the coronavirus vaccine will be entered into a drawing to win $1 million and that children who get vaccinated will be entered into a drawing to win a full-ride scholarship to attend state universities in Ohio.
The announcement came at the same time that DeWine said that the state would “remove all pandemic health orders,” except ones related to nursing, on June 2. DeWine stressed that it was important for everyone to get vaccinated, and that local businesses have stepped up in offering incentives to encourage people to get vaccinated.
“The @Reds and @Indians are offering discounts on tickets to their games,” DeWine wrote on Twitter. “With a vaccine, @WhiteCastle is offering free butter cakes on a stick. @Kroger is offering employees $100 in cash. We need more businesses to offer these kinds of incentives.”
“Getting our 12- to 17-year-olds vaccinated is so important that we will have a separate incentive for them,” DeWine said. “On Wednesday, May 26th, we will announce the winner of a drawing of all those 17 years old and under who have been vaccinated, and the winner will receive a full, four-year scholarship to our State of Ohio universities. This will include tuition, room and board, and books.”
“On May 18th, an electronic portal will be opened up for young people who have been vaccinated to be able to register,” he continued. “We will do this every Wednesday, for five straight Wednesdays — each time randomly selecting one student to receive the full, four-year scholarship.”
DeWine then addressed the incentive program that the state has created to encourage adults to get vaccinated, which will come from existing available funds.
“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,” DeWine said. “The pool of names for the drawing will be derived from the Ohio Secretary of State’s publicly available voter registration database. Further, we will make available a webpage for people to sign up for the drawings if they are not in a database we are using.”
“The Ohio Department of Health will be the sponsoring agency for the drawings, and the Ohio Lottery will conduct them. The money will come from existing federal Coronavirus Relief Funds,” he continued. “To be eligible to win, you must be at least 18 years of age or older on the day of the drawing. You must be an Ohio resident. And, you must be vaccinated before the drawing. We will have further, specific details tomorrow and in the days ahead.”
This article has been corrected to note the scholarship applies to all state universities in Ohio.