NORTH CAROLINA, USA — Are you feeling lucky? Wednesday morning, North Carolina drew its first $1 million vaccine lottery winner.
All North Carolinians 18 and older who’ve received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine were automatically entered into four drawings for a chance to win a $1 million cash prize.
Youth between ages 12 and 17 who have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine were automatically entered into four drawings to win $125,000 toward scholarships.
The department and the NC Education Lottery teamed up to hold its first random number generator drawings the Summer Cash Drawing and Summer Cash 4 College Drawing.
Here's how the vaccination drawing works:
The North Carolina Education Lottery will hold a random number generator drawing and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will determine the individual that corresponds to the number that is drawn.
Audio and visual recordings of the random number generator drawing will be made available. However, NCDHHS said they must then go through a lengthy process of verifying that the individual does not fall under any exclusions from participation in the program and contact the individual to get their consent to receive the funds and release their identity. This may take several days. No identifying details will be revealed prior to that, NCDHHS said.
“After numbers are drawn for both contests, NCDHHS will determine the identities of the vaccinated individuals that correspond to those numbers,” the department said in a news release.
Health officials said the drawings are part of the state’s Bringing Summer Back get-out-the-vaccine campaign to make people more aware of the availability and safety of COVID-19 vaccines.
The $4 Million Summer Cash and Summer Cash 4 College Drawings will run until August 4, according to officials.
Random number generator drawings will take place every other week on Wednesdays. All winners will be announced once they are verified.
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