MI COVID Vaccination Lottery: Nearly 500,000 Sign Up On 1st Day

LANSING, MI — Nearly 500,000 people entered Michigan's new MI Shot to Win Sweepstakes after it was announced by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday, the state said Friday.

The lottery-type program will award more than $5 million in cash prizes and scholarship money to eligible state residents through a series of drawings.

As of 8 a.m. Friday, the MI Shot to Win Sweepstakes received 464,698 applicants for the grand prizes, with 23,978 young Michiganders signed up for the scholarship drawing, officials said.

“This is an innovative way to encourage more Michiganders to get vaccinated, and I am delighted to see so much excitement for the kickoff of the MI Shot To Win Sweepstakes,” Whitmer said Thursday. “We understand there are people out there who have questions, and maybe this will motivate them to seek the answers to their questions so they feel comfortable getting vaccinated."

Read More: Michigan COVID Vaccination Lottery: What To Know

The MI Shot To Win Sweepstakes is the latest kickoff in a series of lottery-style raffles by other states, such as Ohio’s first-in-the-nation launch of the "Vax-a-Million" campaign. Ohio said vaccinations in the state increased 94 percent among 16- and 17- year-olds, 46 percent among 18- and 19-year-olds and 55 percent among those between 20 and 49 years old after Gov. Mike DeWine announced the lotteries.

Officials said Thursday that the aim of the MI Shot To Win Sweepstakes is to increase the state’s vaccination rate by roughly 9 percent to achieve the statewide goal of 70 percent of residents age 16 and older who are immunized.

As of Thursday, 61.8 percent of people 16 and older have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccination, according to Michigan Department of Health and Human Services data.