Maryland offers $40,000 prize for vaccinations
State governor announces partnership with lottery
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Your support makes all the difference.Maryland residents are being incentivised to get a Covid-19 vaccine with the offer of a $40,000 cash prize.
Tge governor Larry Hogan announced the partnership with the state lottery at a Thursday press conference and said the promotion highlighted the “importance” of everyone getting an inoculation.
Starting on 25 May, one newly vaccinated citizen will be randomly chosen by the Maryland lottery each day and receive a cash reward of $40,000.
The draw will continue daily until 4 July, with the total amount of prizes given out to Marylanders hitting $2m.
Officials are hoping the promotion pushes them closer to their target of getting 70 per cent of adults in the state vaccinated by the end of May.
At a press conference Mr Hogan, a Republican, said: “Promotions like this are just one more way that we’re reinforcing the importance of getting every single Marylander we can vaccinated against Covid-19.”
He added: “I know that there are Marylanders that who’ve been hesitating or who just got haven’t gotten around to it yet, but the only way to protect yourself against Covid is to get vaccinated right away. Get your shot for a shot to win.”
The promotion is open to anyone 18 and over who has had a Covid vaccine.
Maryland is not the first state to offer incentives to get the jab. New York governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled a $5m lottery prize incentive for New Yorkers who get their first Covid-19 vaccination.
The “Vax & Scratch” program provides free state lottery scratch-off tickets to New Yorkers age 18 and older who get a first dose of the Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech shot or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine from 24 May to 28 May.
Ohio governor Mike DeWine has also outlined his “Vax-a-Million” promotion that will give a $1 million prize each week for five weeks in a lottery for residents age 18 and older who have got at least one coronavirus vaccine injection.
Additional reporting by agencies
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