The Vax-to-Win lottery incentive from the Bryan administration is no ordinary lottery relative to the process, which was explained during a budget hearing Friday by Raymond Williams, V.I. Lottery's executive director.
Responding to a question from Senator Javan James, Mr. Williams explained how the winners of the “Vax-to-Win” lottery are chosen.
He said each vaccinated person in the territory receives a number that is put into a random number generator. Of all the numbers in the random number generator, 16 numbers are selected and are sent to the Department of Health to be analyzed for eligibility requirements such as residency and if those persons were vaccinated in the territory.
According to Mr. Williams, the 16 selected numbers are sent to D.O.H. from 1-16. The D.O.H. starts with the first number sent to see if the person assigned to that number is eligible. If this person is disqualified, the next number would then be vetted until two winners are chosen. This process also ensures that winners are not employees of Government House or any other position that is excluded from the lottery.
Last week marked the third Vax-to-Win lottery winners announced by the administration. Also announced last week were winners for the school-based vaccine lottery incentive.
Governor Bryan recently clarified how the $250 reward will be given to residents who get vaccinated against Covid-19. Responding to a Consortium request for clarification on the incentive, the governor said, "When I originally said it, it was for people to be incentivized to take the first shot and only those people would have gotten paid when they took their second shot. [But] because of all the people calling... saying foul, we're just going to pay anybody who got a shot between the day I said it and the day it cuts off, but you have to get your second shot." Mr. Bryan first announced the $250 reward August 9.
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