Ohioans light up switchboards and flood website seeking $1 million lottery ‘Vax-a-Million’ prize

The vaccine-hesitant may have their price.

Hundreds of thousands of Ohio’s 11 million residents flooded the registration website and phone lines for the state’s Vax-a-Million program, which will award $1 million to five lucky vaccinated people who enter a lottery and give scholarships to winners under age 18.

The state reported a surge in COVID-19 vaccinations after Gov. Mike DeWine announced the unique incentive on May 12. Starting next Wednesday, a winner will be proclaimed once a week for five weeks. Two days after the lottery was announced, the state saw its highest vaccination day in three weeks, with 25,414 shots in arms, DeWine said in a press conference Monday, according to ABC News.

Kent State University student Jarrett Woo gets his Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccination from Kent State nursing student Allie Rodriguez in Kent, Ohio, on April 8, 2021. (Phil Long/)

Vaccine numbers had been tapering off of late, and the announcement brought renewed interest, in combination with the federal emergency-authorization approval for the shot’s use in adolescent arms. The Ohio Department of Health had fielded more than 60,000 calls by 4:30 p.m. on its first day, and the state’s Vax-a-Million website had seen 25 million page views, the health department said.

Vaccination rates rose 6% among residents aged 30 to 74, officials told NBC News.

“This is a unique, innovative way to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations, and we are pleased to see so much activity today,” Ohio Department of Health Director Stephanie McCloud said in a statement. “In addition, we are seeing early indicators of increased uptake after the Vax-a-Million announcement last week, and will continue to monitor this moving forward.”

DeWine, a Republican who drew razzing for the move from late-night comedy hosts and others, according to The Enquirer of Cincinnati, was elated.

He’s hardly the first to offer incentives. Elsewhere in the country those have ranged from free beer in New Jersey to $100 savings bonds in West Virginia, ABC News reported. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced the Mets and Yankees will dole out free tickets to the vaccinated, and New York City Mayor de Blasio offered Shake Shack bounty as well as free entry to the New York Botanical Garden, the Bronx Zoo and Lincoln Center, among other treats.

Ohio officials also announced a change in how to enter the drawing, reported WKYC-TV. Initially the plan was to use voter rolls, but now anyone who wants to be considered must enter the contest by visiting the site or calling the department of health. People only have to enter once to be considered for all five weeks. Sundays are the deadline to registering for the following week’s drawing.

“We are thrilled to see so much excitement for the Ohio Vax-a-Million drawings,” said Ohio Lottery Director Pat McDonald.

“Not only have we achieved our goal of increasing public awareness and interest, but we have slowed what was a consistent decline, and in certain age groups we’re seeing an increase again,” McCloud said, according to NBC News. “This is doing exactly what we intended it to do.”