Ohio’s $1 Million Covid Vaccine Lottery Pays Off: A Boost In Uptake

NBC News: Ohio Sees Boost In Shots After It Announces $1 Million Vaccination Lottery
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine's $5 million lottery to encourage vaccinations appears to be an early win. State health officials said Monday that more than 25,400 Covid-19 vaccine shots were administered Friday, two days after the program was announced, making it the highest vaccination day in three weeks. Maybe more telling were the people who got vaccinated. Vaccinations for residents ages 30 to 74 spiked by 6 percent after weeks of steady decline. (Hampton, 5/17)

AP: How Ohio's Vax-A-Million Lottery Will Work
With the first drawing for Ohio’s Vax-a-Million lottery system scheduled for May 26, state officials announced a change to the process Monday that will require participants to opt-in. The lottery system unveiled by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine last week will begin next Wednesday and continue for five weeks, offering residents a $1 million prize or a full-ride scholarship to a four-year university in the state. Ohio had initially planned to use state voter registration in addition to an opt-in program to automatically enroll every resident into the drawing but changed it Monday to opt-in only, state Health Director Stephanie McCloud said during a briefing. (Amiri, 5/18)

In other updates on the vaccine rollout —

AP: Scott Declares EMS Week, Asks Vermonters To Get Vaccinated
Gov. Phil Scott is asking all Vermonters to show their appreciation for emergency medical service workers by getting vaccinated against COVID-19.Scott has declared this week as EMS week. More than 100,000 requests for EMS response are answered yearly across Vermont, the Republican governor said Monday. (5/18)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Health Secretary Says Next Phase Of COVID Vaccination Will Be Harder 
Maryland’s health secretary warned Monday that the next phase of the state’s coronavirus vaccination campaign will be costly and time-consuming, as officials work to reach people who have not yet agreed to get the shot. “We’re nowhere near done and we’re going to remain focused on our ground game the next several months,” Secretary Dennis Schrader told state senators during a video briefing. (Wood, 5/17)

WFSU: COVID Vaccination Rates Low For Rural North Florida Counties 
COVID-19 vaccination rates for rural areas in North Florida are low. That's according to U.S. Census Bureau numbers, which shows about 45% of the state population has received at least one dose. For Baker and Holmes counties, nearly 22% of the population has received at least one shot. The nearby counties of Washington, Calhoun and Gilchrist are only slightly higher. (Gaffney, 5/17)

WMFE: Orange County Convention Center Vaccination Site Closing 
This is the last week to receive a COVID-19 vaccination at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. The appointment portal is available through Friday, when the center will stop giving vaccinations to make room for conferences and other events at the facility. (Prieur, 5/17)

Axios: Franklin Graham Would Help Biden Persuade Evangelicals On COVID Vaccines 
The Rev. Franklin Graham would be happy to work with the Biden administration on encouraging evangelicals to get COVID vaccines, he told "Axios on HBO." Evangelicals have expressed high levels of vaccine hesitancy. Graham also told "Axios on HBO" that he doesn't know whether a PSA by former President Trump would reduce vaccine hesitancy, but said he might suggest it to him. (5/16)

Axios: Vaccine-Hesitant Americans Cite Inaccurate Side Effects 
An alarming amount of vaccine-hesitant people who list side effects as a top concern falsely believe the vaccines cause death, DNA alteration, infertility or birth defects, according to recent Harris polling. Respondents also listed blood clots, which are a real side effect of some coronavirus vaccines, but extremely rare. This survey suggests that misinformation or a skewed understanding of risk may be behind a sizable portion of vaccine hesitancy. (Owens, 5/17)

In other vaccine news —

NPR: COVID-19 Vaccine Trials Underway For Kids 5 And Younger
Eloise LaCour clutches her dolly as a nurse takes her blood pressure, then swabs the 3-year-old's delicate arm with alcohol. "Tickle tickle," says Eloise's mom, Angelica LaCour. She's trying to get a smile. "Mommy's going to hug you, OK?" A Stanford University nurse carefully gives the little girl her shot. Eloise is one of 144 children in the country who are part of a Phase 1 clinical trial to test Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines in the most adorable of study cohorts — those 5 and younger. "That's it!" exclaims nurse manager Richard Brotherton, pulling the needle out of Eloise's arm. (McClurg, 5/17)

Fox News: Pfizer Produces Much Stronger Protection If Doses Months Apart: Study
A study in the United Kingdom led by the University of Birmingham in collaboration with Public Health England reported that waiting months between doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine produces much stronger protection against COVID-19. Dr. Helen Parry, a senior author on the study at Birmingham, said: "We’ve shown that peak antibody responses after the second Pfizer vaccination are really strongly boosted in older people when this is delayed to 11 to 12 weeks. There is a marked difference between these two schedules in terms of antibody responses we see." (Miles, 5/17)

Louisville Courier-Journal: COVID Watch: Study Makes Case For Nursing Home Worker Vaccinations
A new study confirms what health officials have been widely reporting: COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective at preventing illness and death from the coronavirus in nursing homes. The study of 2,501 facilities in states that were the first to hold vaccine clinics in nursing homes found reduced spread of COVID-19 among residents and staff and a decline in resident deaths. "This data is extremely encouraging and shows that vaccines are working," said Marsida Domi, the lead author of the study, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. (Yetter and Ladd, 5/17)