Whitmer announces Michigan's $5 million COVID-19 vaccine lottery

LANSING, Mich. - Who wants to win $5 million? That's right; Michigan is entering the vaccine lottery game as the latest state to offer monetary incentives by the millions to try and boost rates of immunity in the state. New vaccinations have slowed to a crawl in the state in recent weeks.

Winners will score either a $1 million prize, a $2 million prize, or a month's worth of $50,000 daily prizes. It's not just people who plan to get the vaccine shot in the next month that will be eligible. 

Here's how the eligibility is broken down:

• $1 million drawing for people who received at least one shot between Dec. 1, 2020, and July 10, 2021. They must have entered their registration between July 1 - 10.
• $2 million drawing for people who received at least one shot between Dec. 1, 2020, and July 31, 2021. They must have entered their registration between July 1 - and Aug. 3
• $50,000 daily drawing for people who received at least one shot on the date corresponding with the daily drawing. The deadline to enter is 11:59 p.m. Entries go between July 1 and Aug. 3.
• Scholarship drawings for people age 12-17 who received at least one shot between Dec. 1 and July 30. 

To be eligible, people will need to register online at MiShotToWin.com. They can also do it by phone at 888-535-6136

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was aside Michigan health director Elizabeth Hertel, Chamber of Commerce President Rich Studley, United Ways CEO Mike Larson, and a host of other business and education representatives during the announcement Thursday.

The $5 million in cash is the total amount of money available to sweepstakes winners. Those age 18 and older who have received at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine will get a chance at taking home some of that money.

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People age 12 to 17 will also have a shot at nine $55,000 college scholarships. 

Currently, Michigan's vaccination rate is 62.4%, according to Whitmer. That rate isn't close to the lowest level of immunity in some states, but it has been stagnant for the last several weeks. The number of people getting their first shot weekly has fallen into the tens of thousands. It used to be close to 400,000.

While much of the state has unveiled itself from its epidemic orders, the coronavirus and its many variants still pose a threat to those that haven't developed some level of immunity. The Delta variant, the newest strain to get coverage for its contagiousness isn't known to be any more dangerous than the original variant - even if it is more infectious.

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But that's still a concern for the many adults who have yet to get a shot but haven't already been infected and recovered.

Michigan isn't the first state to unveil a lottery for its vaccinated residents. 

States that have conducted lotteries saw vaccination rates climb after the announcement. 

More information can be found here.