Was the Massachusetts VaxMillions Giveaway Successful?

The final winners in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts VaxMillions Giveaway were announced today. According to Governor Charlie Baker's office, the winner of this week’s $1 million prize was Cynthia Thirath of Leominster. The winner of this week’s $300,000 college scholarship is Gretchen Selva of Conway.

The program was launched on June 15th and it concluded with the final drawing of the five-weekly drawings on Monday, with the winners being announced today. The goal of the program was obviously to dramatically improve the number of vaccinated Massachusetts residents. So, did the program achieve its goal?

According to the governor's office today, from the time that the program was announced on June 15th through the final day of registration, over 318,000 residents received a first dose of the vaccine, and over 440,000 residents became fully vaccinated. It's difficult to say whether or not the giveaway promotion was responsible for the needles that went into people's arms over the course of the program.

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One could argue that any increased amount of vaccinations could have been spurred on by fears over the Delta Variant, which continues to spread in the state and throughout the country or the fact that the Food and Drug Administration has finally formally approved Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine. Many people were no doubt waiting for that to happen before receiving the vaccine. Although that may have occurred after the registration deadline for the final drawing.

State Treasurer Deb Goldberg said that the VaxMillions Giveaway was about more than winning a lottery...

It was about motivating people to get the vaccine to protect your friends, neighbors, and loved ones... This did in fact encourage thousands who were not yet vaccinated and at the end of the day that is a win/win for everyone. ~ State Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg