Did you win $50,000 in California’s vaccine lottery? The first 15 winners live in these counties
Gov. Gavin Newsom chose the the state’s first COVID-19 vaccine lottery winners on Friday at a game show-style event in Sacramento aimed at boosting vaccination rates in the Golden State.
Newsom and state Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, announced three winners each from Santa Clara, San Diego and Los Angeles counties, two winners from San Francisco and one winner each from San Luis Obispo, Mendocino, Alameda and Orange counties.
The actual names of the winners, who will each receive $50,000, won’t be announced until once state officials are able to contact them and get permission to release their names.
State officials say they will try to reach every single winner, including through door knocking if needed. If state officials can’t find any of the winners, or if some of them decide not to take the prize, they’ll pick alternates. Winners do not have to agree to let the state publicize their identities.
Another 15 people will win $50,000 next Friday. The 10 grand prizes of $1.5 million each will be awarded on June 15, the day the state is set to reopen and relax COVID-19 restrictions.
State officials drew from a pool of more than 21.5 million vaccinated California residents. People who work for certain state offices, including the Governor’s Office, the California State Lottery, the Government Operations Agency the Department of Public Health and the Health and Human Services Agency aren’t eligible to win, nor are their immediate family members. Incarcerated people are also not eligible.
California residents are automatically entered when they get vaccinated. People who haven’t yet gotten their shots can still do so to be entered ahead of the June 15 grand prize drawing. Residents getting the two-dose Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are entered after they receive their first shot, but can’t claim their prize money until after their second shot.
Based on state vaccination data alone, California’s lottery incentive doesn’t appear to have immediately provided any significant boost to first doses among adults. Demand has continued to fall week-over-week since peaking in mid-April, a Sacramento Bee review of California Department of Public Health data found.
Providers statewide administered first doses to an average of about 43,000 adults a day from May 27, the day Newsom announced the vaccine lottery, through June 2. Monday’s total was low due to the Memorial Day holiday; omitting Monday brings the average for the remaining six days to 49,000.
That’s a decline from about 60,000 a day the prior week, May 20-26; and 65,000 the week before that, May 13-19.
At the height of vaccine interest in California, more than 250,000 adults were immunized a day.
Newsom expressed confidence on Friday that the state’s week-old incentives would indeed convince more people to get vaccinated than otherwise would have, saying that other incentive programs have been successful in the past.
This story was originally published June 4, 2021 at 12:57 PM.