Will the COVID vaccine prize lottery get Pierce County to 70 percent?
For at least one day last week, Pierce County saw a marked spike in COVID-19 vaccinations.
That spike came one day after Gov. Jay Inslee announced the “Shot of a Lifetime” lottery promotion, which promises cash prizes of $250,000, tuition credits, gaming devices and sports event tickets to select winners in drawings spanning four weeks, and a million-dollar cash giveaway the fifth week.
According to updated totals released Wednesday by the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, June 4 saw 1,800 vaccines initiated that day, up from 1,500 the previous day, and 2,400 fully vaccinated, up from 1,800 the previous day.
Beyond that, both state and local health officials say it’s too soon to tell how much the vaccine lottery is drawing the last of those locally who’ve yet to be vaccinated against COVID-19, which so far has led to 50,162 cases and 583 deaths in Pierce County.
The hope is that the lottery will help Pierce County and the rest of the state boost its numbers. Pierce remains among 18 counties with percentages ranging from 30-45 percent of their populations receiving at least one dose.
The state has set a target goal of reaching 70 percent of residents 16 and older with at least one dose of vaccine by June 30 for a full reopening of the state.
Among those 16 and older, the state dashboard lists about 64 percent having received at least one dose, and 56.04 percent fully vaccinated.
In Pierce County, the state dashboard showed 53.67 percent initiating vaccination among those 16 and older, and nearly 46 percent fully vaccinated.
King County, in contrast, has more than 75 percent of those 16 and older having received at least one dose and more than 67 percent fully vaccinated. Thurston County shows 59 percent initiating vaccines among those 16 and older and nearly 52 percent fully vaccinated.
On Wednesday, Seattle’s Mayor Jenny Durkin announced the city was the first major U.S. metro to fully vaccinate 70 percent of residents ages 12 and over, with 78 percent initiating vaccinations.
“Seattle has done some good things,” Inslee noted Wednesday, by sending “mobile clinics out to underrepresented communities that don’t historically have adequate health care. They’ve been very attuned to provide language services to people that make sure language is not a barrier. So they’ve done some really aggressive and effective things like that.
“But so have other communities,” he added. “Pierce County’s done some wonderful things, sending out mobile clinics to churches and community centers. They’ve done those same things as well.”
Other programs include TPCHD’s homebound vaccine program, administering doses to those who are unable to travel. That program had administered about 165 doses earlier this month.
Among age groups in Pierce County, those 65 and older have shown the highest percentage of vaccine participation with 71.4 percent vaccinated.
Among those 18 to 29, 38.3 percent have received vaccines.
Karen Irwin, COVID-19 communications lead for TPCHD, told The News Tribune in response to questions that in Pierce County, “there was a decline in vaccine uptake last week, but we expected that because of the holiday weekend.”
“Appointments are down, but too early to determine if this is a trend. It was a holiday weekend, and there are so many retailers, pharmacies, providers, etc. offering vaccine. People have more accessible options every day,” she added.
A representative for Virginia Mason Franciscan Health told The News Tribune on Wednesday evening that they had not seen any notable uptick in vaccine appointments. That medical network has switched from larger hospital vaccine clinics to individual appointments via Franciscan Medical Group clinics for current patients.
A MultiCare representative said its system also had not seen a rise in vaccine appointments in Pierce County or its other facilities.
In his Wednesday COVID-19 update with reporters, Inslee noted that statewide, “We have seen a uptick in appointments for vaccinations since the lottery went into effect. Monday saw the largest single-day number of vaccine appointments, booked over the last two weeks.”
Inslee added there had been an 8 percent increase over the daily average.
“So there are some early, encouraging signs, but we can’t see anything definitive yet about about the impact,” he said.
The state has previously said it would seek an opt-in opportunity for those vaccinated by the Department of Defense or Veterans Affairs and had been in discussions with the federal government. On Wednesday, Inslee said, “We will provide an incentive program so that the Department of Defense folks and the veterans are in some incentive program. We are still figuring out the exact dimensions of that.”
For everyone else: “We have very high confidence that people’s information, if it was provided to the state, is in this database,” he said.
The launch of the lottery saw complaints from those unable to check their vaccine status within the state’s registry. The state is still recommending those with questions about their vaccine status to be eligible in the drawing to call 833-VAX-HELP, with more details about the lottery itself at walottery.com/vaccination
The first drawings were Tuesday, with winners notified Wednesday, according to the state. The final drawing for $1 million will be July 13.
