First 15 COVID-19 Lottery Winners Picked Friday
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - There are more than $116 million in incentives to get people fully vaccinated. Governor Gavin Newsom says it would take a little bit more to meet his goals, and he made good on that promise.
It was a party-like atmosphere with a game show twist.
"Fifteen people, $750K given out today," said Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Newsom was playing host to the first $50,000 on Friday.
"This is all about raising awareness about encouraging others on the fence to get vaccinated," said Newsom.
More than 70 percent of adults in California have received at least one dose, but reaching his goal of a 75% vaccination rate meant more. That's where "Vax for the Win" came about.
"You gotta' vax for the win...protect yourself, protect your community, and guess what, you might have a chance to win a great prize," said Sen. Richard Pan.
Pan, a pediatrician, and a pediatric nurse named Claudio Alvarado, who treated COVID patients on the front lines in New York, were on hand to help.
Twenty-one-point-five million unique numeric identifiers, or vaccinated individual, were placed into a random number generator and 200 entries were selected. The first 50 were then put in this machine.
"We will draw 15 today. Thirty-five will be back up if those drawn are deemed ineligible," said Newsom.
Each ball was numbered. There were no names, for privacy purposes.
"The first number here is number 17, Los Angeles cheers," said Pan.
Only the winner's county was identified then marked on a map. They are contacted and have 96 hours to respond. If eligible and interested, they will receive a check, which is taxable. The Governor understands some consider this a gimmick.
"Incentives have long worked and incentives are what we are advancing here today," said Newsom.
It's proof-positive that one million people have been vaccinated since this initiative was announced one week ago.
Everyone is eligible once they received their first dose, but in order to collect your cash, you have to receive both doses. There will be two more drawings: June 11 and 15. the state has also awarded more than $343,000 in $50 gift cards this past week. And 12-17-year-old winners get money put into a savings account.