Kansas could soon have a COVID vaccine lottery, but not $1 million a week like Ohio

A possible new lottery in Kansas would have one way to enter: by getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

Dr. Lee Norman, the secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, confirmed Thursday that Kansas is considering starting a vaccine lottery.

“We will not have a million-dollar-a-week lottery like Ohio,” Norman said. “But we are working with the lottery commission to put together a lottery that will be, I think, the right size for the state of Kansas and serve as a real stimulus. It appears to be working in Ohio.”

The Kansas plans would include anyone who has already been vaccinated, so there is no incentive from the lottery to delay getting the shot.

The Ohio lottery had its first drawings on Wednesday, with a 22-year-old woman winning the inaugural $1 million prize and a 14-year-old boy winning a college scholarship. Money for the five $1 million prizes comes from existing coronavirus pandemic relief funding.

“I know that some may say, ‘DeWine, you’re crazy!” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in a Twitter thread announcing the lottery. “This million-dollar drawing idea of yours is a waste of money.’ But truly, the real waste at this point in the pandemic — when the vaccine is readily available to anyone who wants it — is a life lost to COVID-19.”

Ohio Department of Health Director Stephanie McCloud said earlier this month that the Vax-a-Million program “was exactly what we needed to reinvigorate interest in receiving COVID-19 vaccines.” Preliminary data showed a 53% week-to-week increase in Ohioans receiving their first dose compared to the time period before the lottery announcement.

Meanwhile, Kansas vaccinations have slumped.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show 36,929 people in Kansas got a first shot in the week ending Monday. While that was the best of any week this month, it is a 72% drop from the peak of 133,964 first doses administered the week ending April 5.

The drop-off is even worse in the Wichita area, according statistics on doses administered by the Sedgwick County Health Department. The 1,675 new first doses administered by the county in the week ending Monday is a 91% cut from the March 29 weekly peak of 19,293 first shots.

Norman, speaking at a media briefing hosted by The University of Kansas Health System, addressed the decline in vaccinations.

“We are flush in vaccine, so we are putting the pedal to the metal in terms of vaccine hesitant,” he said. “And I think we’re finding also that there’s a lot of people that I would call the vaccine lazy, they just plan on getting it but just haven’t gotten around to it yet.”

Dr. Steve Stites, the chief medical officer of KU hospitals, said “we have vaccine that is expiring on the shelf because we don’t have an arm to give it.”

The lack of demand in immunizations has led public health officials to pivot from mass vaccination clinics to more mobile, small-scale clinics. At the current low level of vaccinations, herd immunity is likely seven months away, Norman estimated.

Older populations have much higher vaccination rates than younger people. KDHE data show the 75-84 age group has the highest first-dose vaccination rate at 81% while the 18-24 age group has a rate of 32%.

“The vaccines are incredibly safe and effective,” Norman said. “So there’s no rational reason, in my mind anyway, to be so hesitant and avoid getting vaccinated.”

This story was originally published May 28, 2021 at 8:15 AM with the headline "Kansas could soon have a COVID vaccine lottery, but not $1 million a week like Ohio."