Gov. Mike DeWine may think the lottery is the golden ticket to ending the COVID-19 pandemic, but Ohio lawmakers from both parties disagree.
As a bipartisan group of legislators argues the program is a misuse of taxpayer funds, DeWine, a Republican, defended his “Vax-a-Million” program, which he described as “a chance for vaccinated adults to win one of five $1 million prizes and for vaccinated 12- to 17-year-olds to win one of five full-ride scholarships to any Ohio state college or university,” as a useful tool in incentivizing inoculations.
“We needed something aspirational to generate excitement and motivate those on the fence to get vaccinated now. … I was convinced that the excitement of people talking for weeks about who would be next to win a million dollars would significantly increase vaccinations,” the governor wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times on Wednesday.
GOP LAWMAKERS BLAST DEWINE’S COVID-19 VACCINE INCENTIVES
DeWine said the results have “exceeded [his] wildest expectations,” with vaccination rates up 49% among those 16 and older, 36% among minorities, 65% among those living in rural areas, and 94% among 16- and 17-year-olds, according to the most recently available data.
“The publicity the lottery has generated has spread the word more cost effectively than a P.S.A. campaign would at this point, generating over $23 million worth of free ad equivalency dollars about vaccinations,” he continued. “According to one estimate, preventing just 40 severe Covid-19 cases requiring hospitalization would pay for the entire program.”
DeWine noted the program has had its “critics.”
On Tuesday, GOP state Rep. Jena Powell introduced House Bill 329, legislation that would redirect Vax-a-Million’s funding. “This lottery is a waste of taxpayer dollars, and we know the money could be better spent in a multitude of areas,” Powell said. “For Governor DeWine to say that any vaccinated Ohioan can potentially receive $1 million through a lottery is an insult to our hard-working constituents.”
The “Taxpayer Protection Against the Frivolous Vaccine Lottery Act,” which has 29 co-sponsors, would reappropriate those funds to small-business COVID-19 relief grants and early childhood mental health initiatives. DeWine has vowed to veto the measure if it passes the state Legislature.
Republican Rep. Haraz Ghanbari called Vax-a-Million “unethical and unacceptable” on May 12, and Rep. Jon Cross slammed DeWine’s use of “game show gimmicks with our federal tax dollars.”
Democrats also criticized the program, with House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes saying “Ohioans deserve better” than Vax-a-Million.
“As elected leaders, we’re obligated to take seriously our duty to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” she said in a statement reported by multiple outlets. “Using millions of dollars in relief funds in a drawing is a grave misuse of money that could be going to respond to this ongoing crisis. … I do hope people continue to get the vaccine and help our state reach herd immunity so our economy and way of life can thrive again.”
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Ohio is set to announce its first Vax-a-Million winner on Wednesday. Subsequent winners will be revealed each Wednesday through June 23.
Ohio has had more than 1 million diagnosed cases of COVID-19, with nearly 20,000 deaths attributed to the disease, according to Johns Hopkins University.
