GREENSBORO, N.C. — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced the first two winners of the vaccine lottery.
Shelly Wyramon of Winston-Salem won the $1 million cash drawing. Her three children and husband Bill joined her during Gov. Roy Cooper's announcement Monday morning. Wyramon said it was important to her to get vaccinated because she and her husband have aging parents. She is also a teacher and said she wanted to get back to safely teaching her kids in the classroom.
“We have elderly parents and wanted to protect their health and safety as well as our own and others from COVID-19,” Wyramon said.
Cooper said at first, Wyramon didn't believe she'd won, thinking it could have been a scam. She realized it was real once she spoke directly with NCDHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen.
“I couldn’t believe we won until I saw Secretary Cohen on our computer screen congratulating us. I can’t put into words what that means for our family," Wyramon said.
14-year-old Vania Martinez of Wilmington won the $125,000 scholarship. She had just landed a summer job to help her pay for college. Her mom joined her for the announcement.
"I knew it would be hard for my mom to pay for me to go to college, so I started saving the money I make at my summer job,” Martinez said. “Now I know for sure I’ll have money to pay for college and this means a lot to my mom and me.”
Martinez said the recent loss of loved ones to COVID-19 is what moved her to get vaccinated.
There are still three more drawings left in the state's vaccine lottery. If you got vaccinated after the lottery was announced, your name will be automatically entered twice into each drawing. If you got vaccinated before the lottery was announced, your name will be entered once.
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