Leominster Resident Cynthia Thirath, Conway Student Gretchen Selva Revealed As Final VaxMillions Winners
BOSTON (CBS) – The fifth and final round of winners in the Massachusetts' VaxMillions COVID vaccine lottery were revealed Thursday. Leominster resident Cynthia Thirath and Conway student Gretchen Selva won the million-dollar prize and college scholarship, respectively.
Thirath said she got vaccinated to to protect those around her and to encourage others to do the same. She plans to use her winnings to invest in her future.
Conway enters the fall as a sophomore at Four River Charter Public School in Greenfield. She has an interest in music and plays guitar. Conway plans to attend a college, with a focus on music writing and production. She has started looking at schools in the New England area. She said she got vaccinated as soon as she was eligible to protect herself and her family.
The winners were drawn on Monday.
Earlier this week, the state said one winner over the course of the giveaway missed their chance to claim the money. Winners only had 24 hours to accept after being contacted by the state.
Officials said someone missed that window so a second name was drawn. It's not clear if it was a million-dollar prize winner or a $300,000 scholarship winner.
Here were the first four winners:
- 1st Drawing – Darrell Washington of Weymouth & Daniela Maldonado of Chelsea
- 2nd Drawing – Donna McNulty of Billerica & Dylan Barron of Norwood
- 3rd Drawing – Leo Costinos of Attleboro & Lilla Eliet of Reading
- 4th Drawing – Lilly Guttenplan of Lowell & Nadia Dutton of Rockland
The Governor's office said over 440,000 individuals have become fully vaccinated since the VaxMillions giveaway was announced, and more than 318,000 individuals have received a first dose.