Missouri to offer $10,000 checks for vaccinations in bid to boost lagging numbers

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JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri is launching an incentive program to get more people vaccinated against COVID-19, awarding prizes of $10,000 to 900 people who received the shot, Gov. Mike Parson said Wednesday.

The incentive program is designed to boost a stagnant vaccination rate, which stood at about 40% Wednesday, putting Missouri in the bottom tier of states in the nation.

The low vaccination rate has allowed COVID-19 infections to surge in Missouri. The state now has the third-highest rate per 100,000 residents, with 34, a number that is up 114% over the past two weeks, according to a New York Times pandemic database. Only Arkansas and Florida currently have higher rates, but Missouri has held the No. 1 spot several times in the past month.

Missouri has averaged 12.1 deaths per day over the past 14 days.

Awarding prizes
Under the incentive program, Missourians who have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine can enter. The first drawing will be on Aug. 13, and drawings will occur every two weeks with the final drawing scheduled for Oct. 8.

Once a person enters, their entry will be carried over through all the drawings, which will be conducted by the Missouri Lottery.

To allow time for records and eligibility to be verified, confirmed winners will be announced two weeks following each drawing. Winners will get either cash or education savings accounts prizes for $10,000.

The odds appear to greatly favor those who waited to get vaccinated, as 400 prizes will go to those vaccinated after Wednesday, while those vaccinated before Wednesday will be vying for a separate set of 400 prizes. Another 100 prizes will go to Missourians age 12-17, regardless of when they were vaccinated, in the form of college savings accounts.

Parson earlier expressed skepticism about giving people prizes for getting vaccinated but relented as the number of residents in rural areas began lagging at a time when schools are preparing to open.


On Wednesday, he urged people to get vaccinated but said he would never mandate vaccinations.

“Unvaccinated Missourians are the primary target of this new strain,” he said of the spreading delta variant. “The vaccine has been proven safe and effective against it.”

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