ROCKY RIVER, Ohio — Three months after Ohio finished its Vax-A-Million lottery-style contest -- which gave away five $1 million prizes in an effort to boost COVID-19 vaccinations throughout the state -- Gov. Mike DeWine says he’s got more incentives to reveal today.
The announcement will be made at 2 p.m. today, which we will stream live inside this story.
Gov. DeWine's office says he will be joined by Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff to discuss "vaccination incentives for younger Ohioans."
“We’ll be announcing some incentives directly aimed at the problem we’ve been looking at this week and talking about this week -- and that is the number of young people who are not vaccinated,” Gov. DeWine told 3News during a visit to Rocky River on Wednesday.
Gov. DeWine said his hope is to get people a little more excited about being vaccinated.
“We had a great run two weeks with the Vax-A-Million. We saw our numbers of vaccinations go up rather dramatically. We would like to do something, and we hope that what we’re going to announce will drive this up among the more younger people.”
His comments Wednesday came just one day after he hosted a statewide press conference regarding the current status of COVID-19 in Ohio.
"The bottom line is that we’re seeing our highest levels ever of hospitalizations among those under 50 years old," said Governor DeWine. "Those who are getting very sick, being hospitalized and dying of COVID are getting younger and younger. And it is because they are not vaccinated."
Gov. DeWine initially teased more vaccine incentives more than three months ago on June 10.
Editor's note: Video in the player above was originally published on June 10, 2021.
“As far as additional prizes, we are working on that – actually working on it this morning," Gov. DeWine said at the time. "Not quite ready to announce anything.”
Ohio wrapped up its five-week Vax-A-Million incentive on June 23.
Editor's note: Video in the player above was originally published on May 27, 2021.
The number of Ohioans who have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine is now at 53.5 percent, while those considered fully vaccinated is now at 49.58 percent.
