Last year, Maryland held a lottery to encourage people to get vaccinated. On Tuesday, Gov. Larry Hogan announced the state will do the same for boosters.
The VaxCash 2.0 lottery will follow in the footsteps of the VaxCash and VaxU contests, which awarded money to adults and scholarship help to students, respectively, who got vaccines, Hogan said at a news conference.
The new lottery will award a total of $2 million over 12 weeks to those who get boosters on top of their two shots of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, or their one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine 鈥� the first week鈥檚 prize will be a $500,000, while a $50,000 prize will be awarded in each of weeks two through 11 and $1 million in the 12th week.
Anyone 18 and older who gets all their shots in Maryland is automatically entered, including those who are already boosted, Hogan said, adding that 鈥渢he sooner you get your booster, the more drawings you鈥檒l be entered in.鈥�
He said he hoped the prizes would have an influence on 鈥渢hose who are the fence, or who just haven鈥檛 gotten around to it yet.鈥�
The governor said he wanted to cut through 鈥渃onflicting and confusing鈥� federal guidance on boosters, saying that lots of people didn鈥檛 know whether they needed one, or whether they were eligible.
“It’s simple,” Hogan said: If you’re over 18, you should get a booster. In fact, 鈥淣o one should consider themselves fully protected unless you鈥檝e had a booster shot.鈥�
Hogan added that hospital-based testing sites will be converted to give out booster shots as well.
The governor pointed to statistics showing that people who aren’t boosted are twice as likely to be infected with the coronavirus, three times more likely to be hospitalized and three times more likely to die.
Vaccination milestone
The announcement came as Maryland reported that more than 95% of Maryland adults have been vaccinated against COVID-19, and the state’s numbers look dramatically better than during the surge of the omicron variant.
After peaking last month just below 3,500, COVID-19 hospitalizations in Maryland have dropped to 1,111, and the test positivity rate dropped to 5.81% after last month coming close to 30%.
鈥淛ust as quickly as it came up, it came back down,” Health Director Dr. Jinlene Chan said 鈥� “not without a lot of consequences.”
鈥淲e have turned back another dangerous variant of COVID-19,鈥� Hogan declared. While the danger of another contagious variant is always out there, he said he was optimistic.
鈥淲e鈥檙e all hopeful that we鈥檙e not going to have another omicron situation,” Hogan said. “鈥� We can鈥檛 be guaranteed that there鈥檚 not another one in the future, but we鈥檙e much more prepared than we were.鈥�
Hogan also announced a poster contest for children to show appreciation for the health care workers whom the governor credited with the state’s rebound from the surge. He added that Government House, M&T Bank Stadium and Oriole Park at Camden Yards would be lit up in blue in honor of those workers.
No run for Senate
Saying he intended to “run through the tape” on the rest of his term, which ends in January 2023, Hogan said he will not be a candidate for the U.S. Senate.
While working on last week’s State of the State Address, Hogan said Tuesday, he was reminded 鈥渏ust how important it is that I finish the job we’re doing.鈥�
He said he had informed fellow Republicans Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rick Scott, of Florida, about his decision. He said he also called Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat up for reelection, and told him he 鈥渃an rest easy and get a good night鈥檚 sleep tonight.鈥�
Hogan didn’t say what he’d do after his term was over, however: 鈥淚n January 2023, I鈥檒l have plenty of time to think about what the future holds.鈥�
As for whether he’ll run for president in 2024, 鈥淭hat election鈥檚 pretty far off,鈥� Hogan said. He said he’d base his decision on 鈥淲hether I think I would make a difference.鈥� Asked whether the potential candidacy of former President Donald Trump would influence his decision, Hogan said, 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter whether the former president runs or not.鈥�
No ban on mask mandates
While there’s no statewide mask mandate in Maryland, and state officials tend to encourage local officials to drop such orders, Hogan said he wasn’t going to issue the kind of ban on mask mandates in school that Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued on his first day in office 鈥� a move that鈥檚 now tied up in court challenges.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 believe we have the authority to tell the school boards to do what I say,鈥� Hogan said. 鈥淭hose school boards were elected.鈥�
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