Vaccinated adult Ohioans who want a chance to win $1 million in a series of five consecutive drawings beginning on May 26 will now have to register for entry, the state’s Director of Health, Stephanie McCloud, announced Monday.
People will be able to register online at the state’s new website for the vaccine lottery, ohiovaxamillion.com. It is scheduled to go live Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. Those without internet access can register by phone at 1-833-4-ASK-ODH. Teenagers who wish to be entered into concurrent drawings for college scholarships to Ohio public universities will have to register as well.
The “opt-in” policy is a departure from Gov. Mike DeWine’s announcement last week. He’d said that all Ohioans who had received at least the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine would be automatically eligible for the lottery, where five Ohioans will win $1 million each over the course of five weeks. The promotion was created to incentivize wider vaccine adoption in the lead-up to June 2, when the state will lift all pandemic health orders.
The required registration will significantly reduce the size of the pool entrants, thereby increasing the odds of winning. (The odds are already far better than the Ohio Lottery.)
In Cleveland, the CSU Wolstein Center mass vaccination site is still in operation. After a week of administering the Johnson & Johnson single-shot vaccine, the site is once again offering the two-shot Pfizer vaccine, which is the only vaccine currently approved for teenagers. Walk-ins are welcome.
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This article appears in May 5-18, 2021.
