Gov. Larry Hogan announced a new $2 million lottery Tuesday for Maryland adults who get their COVID-19 booster shots.
Each week through early May, one lucky Marylander will be chosen via a random number generator to win a cash prize, he said.
The VaxCash 2.0 Promotion follows a similar lottery Hogan announced last year to drive up COVID vaccination rates.
The state reached a milestone Tuesday of 95% of adults getting vaccinated. But only a little more than half of Maryland adults have gotten their booster.
Hogan said getting a booster is the “single most important thing” you can do to mitigate the spread of COVID and its variants.
“Our goal with this promotion is to reach those people who didn't realize the importance of getting boosted, or who are on the fence or those who just haven't gotten around to it yet,” he said.
The initial cash prize is half a million dollars. You can get that prize if you’re already boosted or you get your booster by Valentine’s Day. The winner will be announced Feb. 15.
After that, the winner of each week will get $50,000, until the final week, when you can get a final grand prize of a million dollars.
Hogan said in addition to the lottery, the state is launching a new booster action plan, which includes expanded call and text based outreach, and setting up booster clinics at hospital-based COVID testing sites.
