From lottery cash drawings to gift cards, Inslee announces vaccination incentives

Gov. Jay Inslee Thursday announced new incentives to help encourage unvaccinated Washingtonians to get the COVID shot.

The Washington State Lottery will be conducting a “Shot of a Lifetime” giveaway series during the month of June, working with state agencies, technology companies, sports teams and higher education institutions across the state to offer a myriad of different prizes to vaccinated individuals.

This includes people who have been vaccinated in Washington, regardless of when. The incentives are not just for new vaccinations.

The incentives include:

• Lottery cash drawings, with prizes totaling $2 million
• Higher education tuition and expense assistance
• Sports tickets and gear
• Gift cards
• Airline tickets
• Game systems and smart speakers

According to the most recent data from the Department of Health (DOH), approximately 63% of Washingtonians 16 years and older have initiated their vaccinations. The state hopes that the incentives will entice unvaccinated people to initiate their vaccinations and raise the statewide rate.

Washington is set to reopen fully on June 30, or when the percentage of eligible adults who have initiated vaccination reaches 70%, whichever comes first.

Starting next week, the Lottery will conduct one drawing for $250,000 every week for four weeks for all vaccinated individuals. At the end of the four weeks, there will be an additional, final drawing for a $1 million prize.

Vaccinated Washingtonians don’t need to do anything to be entered in the four drawings. The Lottery will automatically gather names from the DOH statewide immunization database.

Inslee also announced higher education incentives, including tuition and book assistance at institutions across the state.

Nearly $1 million will be dispersed directly to the public four-year universities and two-year community and technical colleges to run their own drawing for free tuition and expenses for vaccinated students.

The state will also be offering 30 prizes of one year of tuition college credits to 12- to 17-year-olds through the Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET program). These credits will go directly to families.

Also included in the incentives announced are various ticket prizes offered by Washington companies and sports teams, game systems and smart speakers, and gift cards. The Washington State Parks will also be giving away 80 “one week of free camping” gift cards, worth $250 each, and the Washington Department for Fish and Wildlife will be giving away 80 $100 gift certificates for fishing and hunting licenses. Also included will be 400 Discover Passes, which allow access to recreation on state public lands.

All vaccine incentive prizes will be drawn from the Department of Health immunization database to determine winners. The only action that Washingtonians need to take to win any of the prizes is to get vaccinated. All individuals who have been previously vaccinated are eligible.

The incentives are open to all Washington residents regardless of citizenship, but proof of Washington residency is required.

You can make a vaccination appointment at VaccineLocator.doh.wa.gov.