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Vax-to-Win Lotter winners Lana Estrill in the St. Thomas-St. John District and Seeraj Rajkumar on St. Croix.
V.I. Lottery and Gov't House officials during the Bryan administration's Covid-19 press briefing on Monday announced the latest winners of the "Vax-to-Win" lottery initiative, which aims to encourage Virgin Islanders to get vaccinated with a chance of winning $100,000.
The winners of the July 23rd drawing were: Seeraj Rajkumar on St. Croix and Lana Estrill in the St. Thomas-St. John District.
Both winners are fully vaccinated and will receive $100,000 each.
Raymond Williams, director of Virgin Islands Lottery, said, “It’s a great thing to see that we are getting people vaccinated,” after announcing the two winners.
The governor congratulated the winners and said, “Thank you for taking your best shot and for protecting yourself and our community.”
The names of the winners from the July 30th drawing will be announced during next week’s press conference after their eligibility and residency have been confirmed, according to Governor Albert Bryan.
He reminded Virgin Islanders that there is still time to get vaccinated for a chance to win an upcoming drawings. Additionally, he urged school-based personnel that are vaccinated to make sure they are registered for a special drawing that will take place next Monday, August 9.
There will be three winners of the special school-based personnel drawing: a first-place prize of $25,000, a second-place prize of $10,000 and a third-place prize of $5,000, in each district. He said more than 1,000 school-based personnel so far have registered for the special drawing.
“If you're eligible, please sign up. If you're not eligible, go out and get your vaccine so you can sign up. You have just a couple of days before the August 9th drawing,” Mr. Bryan said.
He added, “I love the lottery giveaway…vaccines save lives and $100,000 changes lives.”
Mr. Bryan said he has been “deeply concerned with where we are in the territory regarding Covid.”
Earlier in the same press conference, he announced that there were 29 Covid-19 hospitalizations, with 23 hospitalizations on St. Croix and 6 on St. Thomas as of Monday.
According to V.I. Dept. of Health Territorial Epidemiologist Dr. Esther Ellis, 47,350 individuals, or 51.6 percent of the population eligible to be vaccinated have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and 37,350 individuals, or 44.7 percent of the population eligible to be vaccinated are fully vaccinated. Governor Bryan said that about 6 percent represented people who traveled to the territory to get vaccinated.
Dr. Ellis further revealed that there were 255 active Covid-19 cases territory-wide: 156 on St. Thomas, 95 on St. Croix and four on St. John. Thirty-nine individuals have died, including two over the weekend, identified by D.O.H. as a 68-year-old man on St. Thomas and an 84-year-old female on St. Croix.
