Sacramento County resident among ten $1.5 million vaccine lottery winners

A Sacramento resident on Tuesday was chosen as a lucky winner of California’s $1.5 million vaccine lottery prize.

In total, ten Californians, who have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, were chosen as winners of the state’s vaccine lottery program during a drawing at Universal Studios in Los Angeles County. Four of the ten winners were from the Los Angeles area.

The lottery is part of a $116.5 million campaign to incentivize more Californians to get vaccinated.

“You saw across the country a decline in total number of people getting vaccinated, there were efforts in states, large and small, to stem that by doing incentives, cash prizes — California was no different,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom during the lottery drawing. “We are the biggest state, and so we have the biggest cash giveaways and cash prizes.”

The winner of the grand prize will be contacted by state officials, using the contact information they provided when obtaining the COVID-19 vaccine. The recipient will choose whether or not they want their name to be public.

Two residents in Sacramento County have also won prizes in previous vaccine lottery drawings.

All Californians, ages 12 and older, are eligible for the prize regardless of their immigration status, with the exception of people who are incarcerated and some state workers and their families. Winners of the prize who are partially vaccinated are required to complete their vaccination.

So far, about 1.4 million vaccine doses have been administered in Sacramento County, according to statewide vaccine data. Overall, about 55.6% of Californians are fully vaccinated and 10.8% are partially vaccinated.

This story was originally published June 15, 2021 at 11:48 AM.