Ohio Governor Mike Dewine addressed the State of Ohio about the state of COVID-19 and its efforts on vaccinations, including drawings for college scholarships and $1 million cash awards.
Governor Dewine stated:
The number of Ohioans who get the vaccine will determine what our future looks like, particularly this coming winter. Everyone has a stake in more Ohioans getting vaccinated. And so, I am asking businesses across Ohio to reach out and offer incentives to get more people vaccinated.
Getting our 12- to 17-year-olds vaccinated is so important that we will have a separate incentive for them. 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. We will do this every Wednesday, for five straight Wednesdays, each time randomly selecting one student to receive the full, four-year scholarship.
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 $1 million. The pool of names for the “Ohio Vax-a-Million” 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. 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.
Let’s show America again what Ohio is made of! Let’s show the nation that same grit and determination in our efforts to get the rest of Ohio vaccinated! Yes -- we have achieved a lot. We are safer today. And the future of Ohio has never been brighter because of your efforts in fighting this pandemic. But, our work is not done.
