The final drawing for Washington state's vaccine lottery will take place Tuesday. The prize on the line: a $1 million jackpot.
The winner will be contacted Wednesday and will have 72 hours to respond. Otherwise the prize will be forfeited to an alternate winner.
The previous four drawings, which took place throughout June, were for cash prizes of $250,000. Winners included a Yakima resident, a nursing student from Spokane and a Walla Walla food-service worker, who almost didn't return the call.
Previous prizes have also included Guaranteed Education Tuition credits for vaccinated residents ages 12 to 17, airline tickets, sports tickets, video-game consoles and other prizes.
Gov. Jay Inslee has claimed that the lottery has increased vaccinations, though it's not clear how effective lotteries have been nationwide.
According to the state Department of Health, 69.6% of Washington residents 16 and older have had at least one shot of a vaccine as of Friday, July 9.
The state formally reopened at the end of June, rolling back most indoor capacity limits and social-distancing guidelines. While most masking mandates are gone, unvaccinated people are still required to wear masks in indoor and in some outdoor settings. And masks are still required for everyone — regardless of vaccination status — on public transit and in schools, health-care facilities, long-term-care facilities and child-care centers.
