quebec launching vaccine lottery with $2m in prizes
vaccinated quebecers will be eligible for a total of $2 million in prizes this summer. online registration is necessary in order to participate in the lottery.
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quebec announced the details of its covid-19 vaccine lottery on friday, offering $2 million in prizes to vaccinated residents this summer.
the province says the idea is to entice holdouts to get vaccinated, encourage people to move up their second-dose appointments and increase overall vaccination coverage before september.
vaccinated adults will be eligible for cash prizes, while teens will have the chance to win scholarships.
“i think every penny is worth it at this stage of the game,” quebec health minister christian dubé said friday when asked if he believes the effort will make a difference.
run by loto-québec, the lottery will be held throughout august and culminate in early september.
the province will hold a weekly draw of $150,000 every friday in august for adults who have received at least one dose. a $1-million draw will then be held on sept. 3 for people who are fully vaccinated.
for the 12-to-17 age group, two $10,000 scholarships will be given each week for those who have received their first dose. sixteen $20,000 scholarships will be handed out on sept. 3 for teens who got both doses.
people must register in order to take part in the lottery, and can sign up at quebec.ca/concoursvaccination as of july 25.
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the province first floated the idea of using a lottery in late june, when the rate at which people were getting vaccinated started to slow down. the strategy has already been used in other canadian provinces, including alberta and manitoba.
as of friday, 82 per cent of quebecers 12 and older had received one dose and 50 per cent were fully vaccinated. but the province has yet to meet its goal of reaching 75 per cent in all age groups — young adults, mainly, are still lagging behind.
in the 19-to-29 age group, only 69 per cent of people have received one dose, and 24 per cent are fully vaccinated. dubé said friday there are still about 80,000 people between the ages of 18 and 34 who have yet to receive their first dose.
with the threat of the delta variant taking hold come the fall, dubé said he believes it’s more important than ever for quebec to reach its goal. he considers every gained percentage point before then a victory, he added.
asked what else can be done to improve coverage, daniel paré, director of quebec’s vaccination campaign, said the province has learned throughout the campaign that different approaches can work to reach younger people.
“we believe this age group are not against vaccination, they’re pro-vaccination, but they don’t have the time,” paré said. “so we believe this initiative will give them a little push to go ahead and get an appointment.”
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quebec finance minister eric girard, who announced the lottery alongside dubé, said it will be hard to measure whether or not the idea works, but he’ll consider it a success if vaccination rates increase in coming weeks.
“because there are many variables that could stimulate vaccination, it’s hard to isolate one variable and say, ‘this is why this person went and got vaccinated,’ ” girard said. “but clearly by now we’ve tried many things, so we’re adding another tool.”
quebec recorded 83 new covid-19 cases on friday, and three more deaths that occurred before july 14. the province administered 99,852 additional vaccine doses in the previous 24 hours.
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