MD COVID: $2M Booster Shot Lottery Announced, Additional Outreach Continues

MARYLAND — Maryland will give away $2 million in prizes to residents who have gotten the COVID-19 booster shot, Gov. Larry Hogan announced Tuesday.

The booster shot incentive, called VaxCash 2.0, is the second installment of a similar effort that promoted the initial doses last year. All boosted adult Marylanders will automatically be entered into this promotion.

VaxCash 2.0 will award one weekly prize for 12 straight weeks. The Maryland Lottery will handle the drawings, which are all random. The Maryland Department of Health will contact the winners.

The first drawing is next Tuesday, Feb. 15. That winner will collect $500,000. In weeks two through 11, winners will gather $50,000. The week 12 winner will get $1 million.

Hogan said the goal of this promotion is to reach Marylanders who didn't realize the importance of getting boosted. He also hopes it convinces anybody on the fence.

“I know that there’s been a lot of confusing and conflicting federal guidance regarding booster shots,” Hogan said at a press conference. “It’s really clear. Everyone age 12 and older is eligible.”

At the press conference, the Republican governor also announced that he will not run for the U.S. Senate. GOP leaders had recruited Hogan because his bipartisan approach attracted many voters in deep-blue Maryland. A full story on his decision is posted here.

Promoting Boosters Statewide

During the COVID-19 holiday surge, the governor opened new testing sites at hospitals to meet rising demand. Infections have since declined significantly, so these testing locations are seeing far fewer patients.

Hogan now plans to offer booster shots at many of those hospital-based testing sites. This will expand to other locations as needed. The state currently has 539 booster clinics.

The governor again encouraged businesses to offer incentives for the booster shot. Maryland offers two hours of paid leave to state employees who get the extra dose.

Hogan told residents they should not consider themselves fully protected unless they have gotten a booster. He said vaccinated Marylanders who are not yet boosted have double the risk of testing positive and triple the chance of being hospitalized. Inoculated locals who aren't yet boosted are also three times more likely to die from COVID-19, the governor said.

Nearly three-quarters of Maryland seniors have gotten their booster. Just over half of adults are boosted. Hogan said these numbers are not good enough.

The governor's GoVax team will continue its booster shot outreach. That squad has already tallied 2 million phone calls and 1.9 million texts.

These initiatives have helped the state weather its latest pandemic spike.

“Fortunately, we are in a much different position than we were a month ago," Hogan said, noting that Maryland has the best case rate in the nation. "All of the current data is showing very encouraging trends with our key health metrics continuing to dramatically decline. We have turned back another dangerous variant of COVID-19.”

Battling The Omicron Variant

Hogan declared a state of emergency and activated the Maryland National Guard on Jan. 4. This came as the highly contagious, but milder, omicron variant of coronavirus led to a spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations.

During the emergency, the governor adjusted licensing requirements to make more medical workers available. He also distributed free N95 and KN95 masks, which offer the most protection.

The 30-day state of emergency ended last Thursday.

Hogan never issued a new statewide mask mandate, but he did require face coverings in state government buildings. The governor also did not limit business capacities or restrict social gatherings during this spike.

Jurisdictions like Anne Arundel County, Baltimore County and Howard County said goodbye to their mask mandates this month. Harford County no longer requires face coverings in its government buildings either.

Masks are still necessary in Baltimore City. Montgomery County extended its order until Feb. 21. The Prince George's County mandate will continue through March 9.

Improving Metrics

Maryland's case rate has fallen to 21.91 new infections per day per 100,000 residents. That's down from the all-time maximum of 221.17 set on Jan. 8. The case rate is still above its recent minimum of 11.16 reported on Nov. 5, 2021 and its overall low of 0.9 recorded on June 25, 2021.

The state's positivity rate has dropped to 5.81 percent, which is better than the high of 29.98 percent on Jan. 5. The percent positivity was as low as 2.91 percent on Nov. 4, 2021. The all-time minimum of 0.54 percent was set on June 28, 2021.

Maryland now has 1,111 COVID-19 hospitalizations. That's an improvement from the peak of 3,462 patients on Jan. 11. Hospitalizations are still up from the recent low of 490 registered on Nov. 14, 2021 and the record minimum of 97 posted on July 1, 2021.

The state has reported 13,528 COVID-19 deaths.

Marylanders can get tested by visiting COVIDtest.maryland.gov.

Vaccine Update

A total of 4,418,722 Marylanders are fully vaccinated. The state's population is 6,177,224. About 97.95 percent of seniors, 95 percent of adults and 89.4 percent of residents 5 or older have gotten at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

Maryland has also made some headway on the newest group eligible for the shot. About 43.01 percent of kids aged 5 to 11 have gotten their first injection since they were cleared for immunization in late October 2021.

The state has given 2,076,085 booster shots.

Maryland's infection and vaccine metrics are updated daily at coronavirus.maryland.gov.

Who's Eligible For First Doses

The Pfizer immunization is the only one with full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. That clearance is good for residents 16 and up. Pfizer also has emergency use authorization for anybody aged 5 to 15 for their first two doses

The Moderna and Johnson & Johnson inoculations have emergency use authorization for locals 18 and up.

Emergency use authorization requires less FDA review than full approval, which is the golden stamp of support from regulators.

Who's Eligible For Boosters

Residents 18 and up who got the Pfizer inoculation can get a booster shot of any kind five months after their initial two doses. Locals 12 to 17 who got the Pfizer must also wait five months, but they are only eligible for the Pfizer booster.

Locals 18 and up must wait six months after their Moderna injections or two months after their Johnson & Johnson vaccines to get a booster shot. Once that time passes, they can get any booster they want.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended getting the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna booster, not the Johnson & Johnson. Experts still urged locals to get Johnson & Johnson's extra dose if Pfizer and Moderna are not available.

Maryland's booster shot guidance is posted here. The graphic below clarifies who is eligible for a booster.

RELATED:

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• White House To Distribute Free N95 Masks: Where To Get Them In MD
• Free COVID-19 Tests In MD: How To Get Them
• Insurance To Cover At-Home COVID Tests: How To Get Them In MD

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