Calif. Offering $116.5M In Vaccination Prizes

Residents over the age of 12 who are either fully vaccinated or have received at least one shot will be entered into the drawings automatically. Thirty people will win $50,000 each with drawings starting on June 4. Then on June 15, ten people will win $1.5 million each.

“The state of California will be conducting a drawing, everybody that has been vaccinated in the state of California will have their name put into this drawing,” Newsom explained. “They’re all eligible and all of those of you before those dates that get vaccinated.”

The Democrat said this money comes from a disaster relief fund that will be reimbursed by the Biden administration. Critics have said using millions of taxpayer dollars to lull people into getting free COVID-19 shots is wasteful spending.

Let’s do this CA.

VAX FOR THE WIN. #VaxFTW pic.twitter.com/xkvIfsK6p8

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) May 27, 2021

Newsom claimed residents will pay a higher price if he reignites his costly school closures and what he described as “business interruptions.” The Democrat then clarified that illegal immigrants will also be eligible for the taxpayer funded prize.

Moving forward, Newsome said the state’s ‘Get Out the Vaccination’ program will share details of the prize money with vulnerable communities. This is a team of at least 2,000 political field organizers and medical students who encourage their peers to get vaccinated. They claimed they are using so-called “emerging behavioral science” and “personal contact” to “create an echo chamber” that “organizes communities to get the vaccine.”

Newsom then highlighted the progress other states are making in their fight against COVID-19. He said more vaccine reward programs are coming, but warned it will be done in “our own California way.”