Premier Jason Kenney and Health Minister Tyler Shandro -- Image from Alberta Livestream

By Connor Gunn

“Open for Summer Vaccine Lottery” outlined by Premier

Jun 14, 2021 | 1:15 PM

EDMONTON, AB – Premier Jason Kenney says “the clock is ticking” if Albertans want a fairly “normal” Canada day in alignment with the Open for Summer Plan.

Kenney says if Alberta goes over the 70% vaccination threshold before Thursday, June 17, the province would be able to move into Stage 3 of the reopening strategy in two weeks.

After announcing the “Open for Summer Vaccine Lottery” on Saturday, additional details were given through an Alberta Livestream.

The lottery is open to those 18 and older in Alberta who’ve received a COVID-19 vaccine and will provide three separate draws:

• 1st draw will be announced on the first day of Stage 3 of the re-opening strategy which will close soon.
• 2nd draw at the end of August for Albertans fully vaccinated with two doses of vaccine which closes August 24.
• 3rd draw at the end of September will close September 23.

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Each draw of the lottery will be for a $1 million prize and anyone that has received at least one dose of COVID vaccine is able to enter at alberta.ca/lottery.

Kenney says this lottery will give those who are hesitant about the vaccine more of an incentive.

“We need to just nudge those who haven’t gotten around to getting their vaccines yet.”

“After all, we’ve had to spend billions of dollars in our health-care system and through supporting people through the past 16 tough months. So if we can just keep pushing up those numbers of people who are vaccinated, that will easily pay for itself in future savings.”

As of Monday, June 14, around 69% of those 12 and older had received at least one dose of vaccine with over 729,000 people having two shots.

Though this is a unique idea, Alberta is not the first province to give incentives for getting a vaccine in Canada.

Earlier this week, Manitoba announced it would be holding two lottery draws this summer with $100,000 prizes and $25,000 youth scholarships.

Information on Alberta’s reopening plan can be found here.