Are you a winner in California’s vaccine lottery? Two Sacramento County residents chosen

Gov. Gavin Newsom played game show host again Friday for the second round of California’s COVID-19 vaccine lottery, where state officials picked 15 new winners to receive $50,000 prizes.

Two winners — one selected in the Friday drawing and another picked as an alternate after two of last week’s winners didn’t claim their prizes — are from Sacramento County.

Three of the new winners came from Los Angeles County, two from Santa Clara County and one each from Fresno, Alameda, San Francisco, San Mateo, Kern, San Diego, Riverside, Orange and Monterey counties. The other alternate winner was picked from Monterey.

Newsom presided over the drawing from the San Diego County city of Vista, the hometown of 17-year-old Nancy Gutierrez, one of the winners picked last week.

Gutierrez talked with Newsom at the event about her relief after she received her second vaccine dose and her excitement about being able to spend more time with her friends now that she is immunized. She said initially her family couldn’t believe she had won a $50,000 prize.

“They called my mom and my mom came in and was like, ‘Nancy you won’t believe it,’” she said. “We didn’t believe it at the beginning but after a few more phone calls we were like, ‘Okay, I think this might be true.’”

Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, and state Sen. Susan Eggman, D-Stockton, drew the lottery winners at the California State Lottery headquarters in Sacramento, accompanied by Kings mascot Slamson the Lion.

“We’ve got some form of dance that we’re experiencing and enjoying from the senator,” Newsom said after Eggman did a jig to celebrate drawing the last winner of the day.

Officials launched the lottery to boost vaccinations ahead of California’s planned reopening June 15, when many coronavirus restrictions will be lifted. Newsom said so far it “appears to be working,” pointing to a boost in vaccinations after the first vaccine lottery drawing last week.

The pool Friday included 22 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.

Officials have said they will try to reach the winners through multiple methods of communications, including email, text and phone calls.

California officials picked the alternate vaccine lottery winners Thursday after they couldn’t reach two of the winners drawn last week, Department of Public Health spokeswoman Sami Gallegos said. They reached both of the alternates on Friday.

Officials made several attempts to reach the two original winners selected last week, Gallegos said, and notified them in “very explicit” terms of a Thursday deadline to respond or forfeit their $50,000 prize.

Officials were able to reach the other 13 winners selected in last week’s drawing.

Next Tuesday, the state will select 10 grand prize winners, who will each receive $1.5 million. California residents who get vaccinated before June 15 are automatically entered in the drawings, including people who got vaccinated before the lottery was announced.

Winners can choose to remain anonymous and still receive their prize money.

This story was originally published June 11, 2021 at 9:08 AM.