Ohio Governor Mike DeWine was consistently bashed by Donald Trump last year. DeWine wasn’t a full-fledged MAGA-enemy, but Trump and his MAGA army were not happy that DeWine took the pandemic seriously (for a Republican) and tried to keep Ohioans safe with common-sense pandemic restrictions. DeWine even wore a mask when Trump came to town, and DeWine criticized the Trump White House for not informing him about Trump’s Covid diagnosis, even though Trump and DeWine had interacted in person when Trump was likely viral. My point? Now that vaccines are widely available to Americans, DeWine is doing the most to get his state vaccinated. He’s taking it pretty seriously, and that means he’s starting an actual lottery where five vaccinated people could win $1 million each.
To the many propositions that governments have used to try to bolster slumping demand for the coronavirus vaccine, Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio raised the ante considerably on Wednesday, announcing that the state would give five people $1 million each in return for having been vaccinated as part of a weekly lottery program.
The lottery, whose legality could raise questions, will be paid for by federal coronavirus relief funds, Mr. DeWine, a Republican, said during a statewide televised address. The first of five weekly drawings will be held on May 26, according to Mr. DeWine, who said that Ohio Lottery would conduct them.
“I know that some may say, ‘DeWine, you’re crazy!’ ” Mr. DeWine said on Twitter. “‘This million-dollar drawing idea of yours is a waste of money.’ But truly, the real waste at this point in the pandemic — when the vaccine is readily available to anyone who wants it — is a life lost to COVID-19.”
At the same that Mr. DeWine promoted the lottery, he announced on Wednesday that Ohio would lift all of its health orders that were enacted during the pandemic on June 2, except for those affecting nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. About 36 percent of Ohio’s population has been fully vaccinated — compared with 35 percent nationally — and nearly 20,000 state residents have died from the virus, according to public health data.
The reaction online to the giveaway was mixed on Wednesday, with some people saying that it beat the seemingly meager offerings of other states like free beer, gift cards and savings bonds. Others questioned whether the money might be better spent on broader relief from the pandemic and whether the lottery complied with federal regulations. Even some other Republicans bristled at the plan.
Public health experts are focused on meeting the vaccine-skeptics and vaccine-ambivalent on their own turf, meaning that the important thing is to give those people the space to vent, all while offering incentives to get vaccinated. As we can see, millions of Americans don’t consider it enough of an incentive to protect their own health and the health of those around them. Which is why “savings bonds with vaccines” and “free donuts” and “free beer” have been introduced in states with large vaccine-ambivalent populations. But this lottery system is… next-level bribery. I mean, if Virginia was doing a lottery, I would totally be into it, but I already got my two shots and I did it because I’m a good citizen and I believe in science. It really is Idiocracy out there, huh?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Getty.
He backed down at the slightest pushback and allowed Amy Acton to bear the brunt of harassment. There were white supremacists surrounding her home, almost a hundred lawsuits against her health directives and he said nothing.
Promising beginning but a failure in the end. She resigned, and now Ohio’s Health Director has no medical background whatsoever.
I am all for getting as many people vaccinated as possible, but something about paying this lottery out of the covid relief funds, to only 5 people, is kind of icky. That’s $5 million that could go towards food banks, schools, small business relief, etc.
I agree, it’s kind of squicky. But I think if you’re going to do a lottery, a million is overkill. I think many would be willing to get vaccinated for less. I would change the lottery to $10,000 for 500 people. For a lot of folks, $10,000 is still a very useful chunk of change.
Good point, they could do it with a smaller amount of money and probably still get the same results.
My employer offered us $100 if we got fully vaccinated. I was going to do it anyway, but extra money never hurts.
A friend’s kid’s college is knocking money off their tuition if the students get vaccinated.
See, I think these are great ideas. And I’m glad to see the private sector stepping up.
Vaccination rates have stalled in my state, and they’re going to start paying people $100 to be vaccinated. Which I feel is also a better plan than a lottery. It’s significantly less money, but it’s guaranteed money. And, I mean, I get it. We can’t develop herd immunity with these kinds of vaccination rates. But I hate rewarding a**holes who refuse vaccination just to stick it to “the man. or because they’re stupid conspiracy theorists. What about those of us who got vaccinated because it’s just the right thing to do??
Got my second shot mid March. Won’t say no if Gov. Dewine gives me a million dollars. And frankly as long as people get vaccinated I’m not interested in their reasons why. With the end of health mandates looming on June 2nd I’m just interested in getting people vaccinated. I also plan to continue wearing a mask inside public places and around those who are not vaccinated. I’m angry that my Governor was pressured politically into ending the mandates prematurely because a group of Republicans in the Ohio legislature passed a bill giving themselves the power to over ride health mandates. You can bet I took names on who voted for that bill and will remember them next Election Day.
This is so dumb but I live in Ohio, so I get it. This f’ing state. I’m irritated that he’s lifting our restrictions in just a few weeks, I mean Covid hasn’t gone anywhere! All the adults in my family are vaxxed but I’m worried about my kids, who are under 12 so will probably not be eligible until after a summer of being exposed to maskless idiots. The only upside is that this lottery is available to everyone who has been vaccinated, so I could win lol.
The sad thing is that those who believe that the pandemic was a scam or hoax, that wearing masks is more dangerous than catching this fake disease, and that the vaccine is untested or part of some sinister scheme, will not be convinced by this. They still won’t get the vaccine, not *even* for a million dollars.
Do you really think this will convince those people that think it’s the mark of the beast or some Bill Gates microchipped controlling serum? I don’t. I just talked to an elderly family member yesterday that has diabetes and asthma, is not a healthy person and she straight up said she doesn’t believe in vaccines. Originally when the vaccine first came out she was talking about the microchip. I know she’s gotten to this point because of her children and one of them is married to a holistic “doctor”. But her reasoning was just so so uneducated. I know she’s gotten vaccinated in the past but suddenly she has reasons why she doesn’t believe in them, one of them being that this “doctor” has built up her immune system naturally with all of his concoctions. Some choice quotes were “it’s not a vaccine it’s a shot.”, “If it prevented me from getting Covid I would but it doesn’t, it just makes it so that you don’t have a severe case of it.” (Apparently that’s still not enough of a reason and it’s people like her that will give it to people like her) “They just fill you with these antibodies and all kinds of stuff and so many people have been having terrible reactions.”. Ok then, clearly someone who as absolute no idea how vaccines work, the mechanics of them, why they work to eradicate disease and why they have worked in the past. She is just spouting off what she hears from her kids and faux news and she will never be convinced otherwise.
Another family member that has never spoken to us about covid but knows we have gotten vaccinated and that we have a child with significant medical needs shot an email to my husband saying her wanted him to “consider” the other side when it comes to vaccinating our children. It was some article from some alt right political Q peddling website that his colleague showed him. It was not medical in anyway, saying that children are not carriers so no need to vaccinate. Weird, I wonder what all of those kids that have been getting it in higher numbers lately would say to this. These people do not work in the medical field and never have but this person was bold enough and arrogant enough to send my husband some conspiracy BS to try and “help” by spreading misinformation. These people won’t ever be convinced IMO.
You’re right, the hardcore conspiracy theorists won’t be convinced. But they make up the minority of people who don’t get vaccinated – more often, not getting vaxxed comes down to apathy, uncertainty and other barriers which are easier to overcome with the right incentives. I suspect that’s who these campaigns are targeting. Lots of studies suggest the QAnon folks and their anti-vax ilk are lost causes and the best you can do is harm reduction around those folks.
I am fully vaccinated but I want to enter the lottery lol.
My Republican governor also did a good job during the pandemic IMO and he announced yesterday that we are….open. Lifting all capacity restrictions, no outdoor masks anymore, and once we hit 70% vaccinated, he’s going to lift the indoor mask restrictions too (I think we’re at 60% now). I admit I’m a little nervous about it. It just feels like we’re going from 0-100 (or okay 50-100) really fast. I hope schools require masks through the end of the school year.
60%!! That’s amazing!
I just checked – we are 65% with at least one dose, but only 2.4 million are fully vaccinated (and if I’m reading the chart correctly 3 million have at least gotten their first dose, so it seems most of that 65% are fully vaccinated.) our governor has been ON IT with vaccine distribution. People complained in the beginning but pretty much starting in March it opened up and got a lot easier to get a vaccine.
He said in his press conference yesterday that he expected we would be at 70% by memorial day.
I live in Ohio and didn’t vote for DeWine(and probably still won’t) but I am proud of him for how he handled the pandemic (mostly) and Trump. He took quite a bit of shit from republicans for his actions and he stuck to his guns. Also- he made it legal for us to get take out booze during lock down and has kept it available since we opened back up 😂. I’d take a million for my shots! Luckily Everyone who has already been vaxxed is eligible too. It’s a creative way to incentivize those who may be on the fence.