Missouri lotto winners can remain anonymous, so why not vaccine lottery winners?
Last month, it became illegal to release the names of Missouri lottery winners, who can now remain anonymous.
That’s a welcome new protection for winners, who have often been harassed by moochers and outright con artists.
It makes no sense, then, that the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has been announcing the winners of its vaccine incentive program, which initially awarded $10,000 prizes to 180 people. Another 180 residents were named second-round winners last week. All have been publicly identified, along with their hometowns.
The MO VIP program is administered by the state health department in conjunction with Missouri lottery officials. There is no getting around the obvious contradiction. And correcting the situation doesn’t seem to be on the state’s agenda.
“Yes, this was something that was taken into consideration early on, but because this is DHSS’s incentive program and not a lottery administered by MO Lottery, this does not apply,” a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Senior Services said.
Missouri has a pitiful vaccination rate of 46.4%, though 11 states have done even worse, and there are benefits to publicizing names, proponents of the vaccine incentive program say.
Seeing local people’s names on the list lets others know you really can win, and encourages vaccination. But given the sometimes violent reaction to masks and shots, winners should at least have the option of not being identified.
