New Mexico said it plans to award a $5 million grand prize to one resident who has been vaccinated against COVID-19.
It would be the largest cash incentive offered in the country so far in hopes of beating back the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) said vaccinated New Mexicans can now enter the state’s “Vax 2 the Max” sweepstakes, which will award $10 million throughout the summer. Four winners will be selected each week for five weeks and given $250,000 in cash before a final grand prize winner is drawn in early August.
Entrants must be 18 or older and have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine. The grand prize winner must be fully vaccinated by the time of the final drawing. Drawings will begin in mid-June and the funds will come from President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan.
“Getting vaccinated is the right thing to do — for yourself, for your family and for your state,” Lujan Grisham told The Associated Press. “I’m excited to add a little fun to our nation-leading vaccination push.”
In just a few hours, 25,000 New Mexicans had registered for their chance to win.
The sweepstakes is the latest state-driven effort to convince residents to get vaccinated and turn around tapering levels of jabs in some regions after an initial blitz of inoculations. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) was the first to announce such prizes and his state has already selected a 22-year-old recent college graduate as the first of five winners to receive $1 million prizes.
Colorado, Oregon and California have followed suit with large cash prizes while other states have opted for smaller incentives to a much larger swath of residents who receive a vaccine. The plans have paid off, according to initial data. In Ohio, vaccinations jumped 33% in the week after the state announced its program.
More than 55% of New Mexicans aged 16 and over have been fully vaccinated, and 65% have received at least one shot, according to the state’s Department of Health.
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