Jason Herring
People wait in line to receive their COVID-19 vaccine at the Immunization Clinic in the Telus Convention Centre on Wednesday, May 19, 2021.Photo by Azin Ghaffari/Postmedia
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Premier Jason Kenney is hoping a shot at $1 million can convince more Albertans to get their COVID-19 vaccine shot, as demand for first doses falters.
In a video posted to social media Saturday evening, the premier announced the Open for Summer Lottery, which will award three $1-million prizes to some Albertans who get the jab.
The first draw will take place on the day Alberta enters Stage 3 of its reopening plan, and will be open to all Albertans age 18 or older who have had at least one shot.
Albertans will have to register to be entered in the draw; a registration process will be announced Monday. Registration will remain open for one week after Alberta achieves 70 per cent uptake for first doses of vaccine, which will also trigger a two-week countdown to Stage 3, when all public health restrictions will be lifted.
Many places around the world have launched similar lotteries like this because we need to nudge those who havent gotten around to getting their vaccine yet, Kenney said.
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Weve had to spend billions of dollars in our health-care system and supporting people through the last 16 tough months. So if we can just keep pushing up the numbers of people who are vaccinated, that will easily pay for itself in future savings.
No details were immediately available about the second or third $1-million draws, or for several other prizes which Kenney said would be revealed later this summer.
Alberta is the second province to announce lottery incentives for immunization against COVID-19. On Wednesday, Manitoba announced a lottery with $2 million in cash and scholarship prizes, with all their immunized residents automatically entered.
Several U.S. states have also launched lotteries, including Ohio, which faced some criticism when it announced its lottery program last month. But that state saw vaccine uptake rise by 47 per cent in the week after the announcement.
Speaking to Postmedia earlier this week, Timothy Caulfield, a Canada research chair in health law and policy at the University of Alberta, said incentives like lotteries might be a helpful strategy for convincing those who are hesitant or complacent about vaccines to get their jab.
But he stressed messaging around lotteries needs to be appropriate.
We dont want to suggest that were incentivizing this because we have to, because its dangerous and there arent other reasons you should be getting it done, Caulfield said. Were incentivizing it because its good for your community.
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Alberta has seen a significant drop in demand for first doses over the past two weeks. Through Friday, 68.5 per cent of Albertans aged 12 and over had received at least their first dose, but the provinces seven-day average for daily first doses administered sits at less than 14,000.
The province needs about 57,000 more people to get their first dose in order to reach the 70 per cent threshold. In a news release, the Alberta premiers office said 64,535 first-dose appointments were already booked over the next week.
The release projected the province would hit 70 per cent mark June 18, meaning Stage 3 would begin July 2 one week before the Calgary Stampede is scheduled to kick off.
A total of 2.61 million Albertans have had at least one shot of vaccine, including 2.37 million Albertans age 20 and over.
If each of those Albertans entered the lottery draw, the chance of winning the $1-million jackpot would be 0.00004 per cent.
jherring@postmedia.com
Twitter: @jasonfherring
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