The nations top public health agency has declared that if you are fully vaccinated, You can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic.
That means no more masks or physical distancing, even indoors with unvaccinated people who are on their honor to keep masking up. No more diagnostic testing for COVID-19 if youre vaccinated, even if youve been around an infected person unless you develop symptoms.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance because the vaccines really are transformative. In the rare event that a vaccinated person still contracts a coronavirus infection, symptoms are usually mild or nonexistent, and the amount of virus is so low that it is hard to spread to others.
States and cities can make their own rules. Pennsylvania will lift its mask mandate for all residents -- vaccinated or not -- on June 28, or when 70% of the adult population is fully vaccinated, acting health secretary Alison Beam announced Thursday. Neither New Jersey nor Philadelphia have yet gone that far.
Many pandemic-weary folks welcome the freedom that the CDC says comes with vaccination. But many others remain leery because scientific understanding of the virus and its scary variants is continually evolving, and only about 40% of the country is fully vaccinated. Whats more, the vaccine doesnt confer full protection for some people, whether because of age or certain medical conditions.
We asked some experts to share their personal perspectives on the rules lifting while the pandemic continues.
William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University Medical Center infectious diseases specialist, is still being cautious. While many people in Nashville where he lives are vaccinated, rates are low in rural parts of Tennessee and those residents visit the city. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are very effective, but they are not perfect. At its best, the vaccine is 95% effective, he said. I didnt say 100%.
Schaffner, a physician who still works full-time but no longer sees patients, did not want his age published. He is, however, well past 65, which puts him at high risk for severe COVID-19 if he becomes infected. Im an infectious diseases doctor. Ive seen sick patients, he said. I dont want to be one of them.
So, hes taking a conservative approach. I still wear the mask when I go into public spaces and I do so because Im taking a belt and suspenders approach, he said. By that, he means the vaccine and the mask provide better protection together than alone. He and his wife would eat inside a restaurant with another vaccinated couple, but only if the tables are spaced far apart and the wait staff is masked. He would go to a theater only if patrons were well spaced and would likely still wear a mask. He still hasnt gone into a gym. Theres no way you could get me to a concert right now, he said.
Hed like to see 80% of the population vaccinated. I think I would start to feel much more comfortable, he said.
He does not worry that he would spread the virus to other people. He is worried that people who are unvaccinated will go maskless and mix with everyone else. Obviously, one of the reasons I wear any mask under the current guidelines is because I dont trust them completely, he said.
People who are immunocompromised, he said, should definitely keep wearing masks.
Troy Randle has felt comfortable for months going to indoor restaurants with limited capacity, reasoning that he has a double layer of protection against COVID-19.
A cardiologist in the Virtua Health system in New Jersey, he contracted the disease early in the pandemic, in March 2020, then followed up in December and January with two doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Preliminary studies suggest that immunity from vaccines may be more durable than natural immunity from having COVID-19.
I looked at the vaccination kind of like a booster shot, he said.
But he remains wary of crowded public events, in part because he experiences lingering effects from the disease.
After his initial symptoms subsided, Randle developed a blood clot that blocked an artery in his brain: a stroke. More than a year later, he sometimes feels fatigued, and therefore steers clear of places where he would have to wear a mask for hours on end.
He sees patients in the office but not in the hospital. He has not been to an indoor sporting event or to a movie theater, though friends and family have discussed the possibility of renting a theater for a private showing.
Randle also is not sure yet about going to a crowded indoor bar or restaurant, once capacity limits return to normal. Yes, the number of cases has dropped dramatically, but it dropped at this time last year, too, before creeping up again, he said. So he thinks masks, hand-washing, and other precautions remain a safe bet for now.
Randle feels confident that even if he were to get the disease again, his primed immune system would ensure that the symptoms were mild. But hed hate to see anyone else go through what he did last April.
I do think we need to open up, he said. I do think we need to reengage, but also be mindful that this is still present.
Last July, Charles Haas joined 239 other scientists around the world in urging the World Health Organization to acknowledge and address the risk that coronavirus can be transmitted in microscopically small droplets that are released into the air just by talking or breathing.
In an interview at the time, Haas, an environmental engineer at Drexel University, ticked off the precautions the experts were advocating: Universal masking. Avoid crowds. Avoid confined spaces. Keep a physical distance. And for indoor spaces, improve ventilation.
That, of course, was before COVID-19 vaccines began to loosen the pandemics grip on this region. But Haas remains cautious, at least for now.
I have reservations about indoors in groups with no masking, even though I am fully vaccinated, Haas said. As case rates drop further and vaccine uptake rates increase, this will change.
In buildings on the Drexel campus, other than when Im alone in my office, I am masked. I have been back to my office once or twice a week (taking SEPTA) since I became fully vaccinated in early April.
Outdoors, Haas feels safe shedding his mask, especially in his Society Hill neighborhood, where vaccination rates are high. Still, he and his wife avoid crowds.
We only have occasionally gone into stores, where we remain fully masked, he said. I am hoping by the time the city lifts the indoor mandate, we will be comfortable being in some of the indoor spaces we love.
Reading Terminal Market, he added, is the top of the list.
Mayssa Abualis biggest concern is how to help families with unvaccinated children under age 12 navigate this summer safely.
Abuali, a pediatrician at Einstein Medical Center with expertise in infectious diseases, said she is not currently masking her young children when outdoors.
The risk of outdoor transmission is minuscule to both adults and children, and young healthy children are not at high risk for COVID-19 even when indoors, she said.
Abuali also said she is comfortable unmasking young children indoors if the surrounding adults are vaccinated, like in a recreational class with vaccine requirements for instructors, because studies have shown that young children are most likely to be infected from contact with sick adults and not other children.
She said she continues to wear a mask in local businesses that request masking to make the owners and patrons feel comfortable. But, she said, I agree with the CDC that masking for vaccinated persons is not necessarily as they are not likely to transmit or catch infection.
When it comes to summer travel, though, Abuali said she is still refraining from flying with her unvaccinated children because of the potential for poor ventilation on planes and variability of adult vaccination rates across the country.
I plan to re-assess the risk as more American adults are vaccinated and our [case] rates show consistent declines, she said.
At a recent media briefing from the Infectious Diseases Society of America, Jeffrey Duchin acknowledged that the CDCs updated messaging on mask wearing was abrupt and confusing. Based on science that the vaccines work very well, it was meant to assure the vaccinated that they are safe both inside and outside without masks. But many quickly interpreted the guidance to mean that mask mandates should be lifted, said Duchin, who is health officer of public health for Seattle and King County, Wash.
Because unvaccinated people are still at risk, Duchin worried that lifting requirements too fast raises the risk of an increase in viral transmission. Public health officials, he said, need to take into account that vaccination rates vary by age group rates are highest among older adults and by neighborhood.
Transmission is still a risk in crowded indoor spaces. Steps to improve ventilation and indoor air quality are especially important now, he said.
Jeanne Marrazzo, director of the division of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said at the briefing that people who are fully vaccinated and in good physical health should feel 100% fine going anywhere without a mask once transmission rates are low and vaccination rates are high. However, she said, about 3 million Americans are immunocompromised and we dont know how well the vaccines protect them.
People need to monitor whats going on in their communities very closely and be prepared to pivot and adapt, she said.
She said she will feel more comfortable when disease rates are very low and 80% of the population is vaccinated, goals she does not expect the U.S. to reach soon.
For her, masks may always have a role. She pointed to the drop in flu and other respiratory infections this year. Masks are a pretty powerful weapon against respiratory illnesses, she said. Im still wearing a mask when I go anyplace in public where I live because our vaccination rates are less than 50%.
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Instruction
Pet owners are asked to have their pets on a leash, in a cage or carried inside a pillowcase
by: WKBN Staff
WKBN
CANFIELD, Ohio (WKBN) Both rabies vaccinations for pets and COVID-19 vaccinations for their humans will be offered during a clinic at Angels for Animals.
The clinic is set to be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 5 at the facility, located at 4750 W South Range Rd. in Canfield.
In Mahoning County, rabies vaccinations are required for all dogs, cats and ferrets over 3 months of age. The cost is $8 per rabies shot, and only cash will be accepted.
Pet owners are asked to have their pets on a leash, in a cage or carried inside a pillowcase.
Angels for Animals stresses that the veterinary staff reserves the right not to vaccinate any animal in the event that the animal appears to be in poor health.
To receive the three-year booster, bring proof of prior rabies vaccination on or after June 5, 2020. Without proof of prior vaccination, the pet will receive a one-year vaccination only.
No appointment is necessary for rabies vaccinations.
The Johnson and Johnson vaccine will also be available for those over 18 years of age during the clinic.
Appointments can be made through Mahoning County Public Healths scheduling system, found online, or by calling 330-270-2855, Option 3. Walk-ins for COVID vaccinations are also welcomed.
President Biden directed the intelligence agencies to look for evidence of an accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (pictured). Many scientists still think its more likely the virus came form the wild. Hector Retamal /AFP via Getty Images hide caption
President Biden directed the intelligence agencies to look for evidence of an accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (pictured). Many scientists still think its more likely the virus came form the wild.
This week, President Biden directed his intelligence agencies to take another look at whether the coronavirus resulted from a lab accident in China. For many, the announcement felt like a big change, putting what had been a conspiracy theory about the virus's origins back on the table.
But not much has changed for Robert Garry, a microbiologist at Tulane University who has analyzed the genome of the coronavirus. "Nothing's really tipped me or made me flip-flop or anything about it," he says. "I'm more convinced than ever that this is a natural virus."
Garry and many other scientists, including the President's chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci, continue to believe the preponderance of evidence points toward a natural source. That's been the case for every previous disease known to infect humans.
Nevertheless, this week's announcement has created room for what some researchers hope can be a more balanced discussion of the possibility of a laboratory accident. "I think it opens the door for other scientists to weigh in without being called conspiracy theorists," says Alina Chan, a geneticist at MIT's Broad Institute who has long argued for the laboratory theory to be more thoroughly considered.
A natural origin would be more in line with what's come in the past. "The historical basis for pandemics evolving naturally from an animal reservoir is extremely strong," Fauci told senators at a hearing earlier this week. Ebola, HIV and the major influenza viruses all came from nature, he said.
In the case of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, Garry sees parallels to another natural outbreak. Most of the first reported cases of this virus were in wet markets in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Wet markets were also central to the outbreak of the original SARS virus, which began spreading in the early 2000s.
Back then, the virus was traced quickly. "People got lucky," he says. "They were able to identify the restaurants the first cases ate at, and then go back to the wildlife farms where they'd bought the civets as it turns out." Those civets had been infected by bats.
The fact that nobody's pinpointed the source for the new coronavirus isn't particularly unusual, adds Garry. It can take years to figure out a source; the natural source of the Ebola virus remains a mystery, for example. But he thinks it's out there: "It's just a matter of time before we find the progenitor in a bat or some other species."
Ian Lipkin, at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, is another researcher who's taken a hard look at the genetics of this virus. He says that there's no evidence for human manipulation. In fact, the way the virus infects people is so quirky, he thinks it couldn't have been made in a lab.
"We would not have known how to design this virus, even if we had wanted to do so," he says. "When I say 'we,' I really do mean the scientific community, whether we mean scientists in Europe or the U.S. or China, for that matter."
But he adds, it is still possible that a scientist in China could have found the coronavirus in nature and that a lab accident ensued. "It's possible that the virus was brought into the laboratory, that it was grown inside a cell line, that somebody became infected and left the laboratory inadvertently and carried the virus with them."
The laboratory in question, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, has collected viruses from bats in the field and has published some of the genetic sequences. So far, none have matched SARS-CoV-2.
Nevertheless, "both scenarios are still on the table," says geneticist Chan. Chan says she herself hasn't reached any conclusions about whether a lab is responsible: "There's nothing that's a smoking gun," she says.
The intelligence community is also unsure. In a brief statement, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said that the nation's intelligence agencies believed both a lab accident and a natural outbreak were possibilities.
Most agencies did not reach a conclusion, while two supported the natural cause theory and one the lab leak with "low/medium confidence." That could mean that the intel is based on just a few sources, or on sources that are unreliable, says Eric Brewer, a former National Security Council staffer now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "The bottom line is that there's a lot of uncertainty," he says.
Former President Trump frequently mentioned the lab leak theory without providing evidence, and Chan says that gave the discussion a political taint: "I was compared to insurrectionists and Qanon" for raising the possibility, she says.
She and other scientists had hoped a World Health Organization mission to China earlier this year might conduct a more serious examination of the theory. But it fell far short of her expectations because China obstructed investigators. "They always had to be chaperoned by people from the government, they were always being monitored," she says.
Chan was one of more than a dozen scientists who signed on to a letter in the journal Science calling for a more open look at the possibility the virus came from a lab. She welcomes the intelligence review that Biden ordered and believes it may be the only way, at this stage, to gather evidence on the origins of the coronavirus. "Will China suddenly become one of the most transparent countries on earth?" she says. "I cannot imagine how that will happen."
In the end, all three scientists agree that the available evidence is far from conclusive, and all welcome further investigation. The question of where the virus came from needs to be answered, says Chan. "Our lives depend on finding out how this virus got started," she says, "so we can prevent another one from getting started five to 10 years from now."
LONDON The number of new coronavirus infections in the U.K. hit a near two-month high Friday as British regulators authorized the use of the single-dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson.
The latest authorization, which takes the number of vaccines in the U.K.s armory to four, comes amid growing speculation that the new variant of the virus first identified in India may prompt the British government to delay its next planned easing of lockdown restrictions in England.
Government figures showed that another 4,182 new confirmed cases were reported across the U.K., the highest daily figure since April 1. The cases bring the total number of confirmed infections reported over the past seven days to 20,765, a 24 percent increase from the previous week. The rise prompted scientists to say the U.K. is now in the midst of a third wave of the pandemic.
The number of cases remains well below the daily high of nearly 70,000 recorded in mid-January, during the peak of the second wave, but the upward trend has raised questions about the U.K. governments plan to lift all remaining social restrictions on June 21. The government, which has lifted restrictions in stages and allowed pubs and restaurants to resume indoor service last week, has said it will make a decision on the next planned easing on June 14.
The variant identified in India is believed to be responsible for up to 75 percent of new cases in the U.K. and is more transmissible than the previously dominant strain of the virus.
Critics argue that the Conservative government is to blame for the variants seeding in the U.K. They say officials acted too slowly to impose the strictest quarantine requirements on everyone arriving from India, which is in the midst of a catastrophic resurgence of the virus.
Many scientists say the increase in cases is no surprise but that the rapid rollout of vaccines will provide a firewall in a country that has seen Europes highest virus-related death toll at more than 127,500. While the most vulnerable people should have vaccine protection, there are worries the virus could spread widely among younger adults.
As of Friday, 58 percent of the British population had received at least one vaccine dose and around 35 percent had gotten two shots. The U.K. vaccination program started with the oldest age groups and aims to have offered a jab to all adults by the end of July.
It seems almost certain that we will face a third episode of rising COVID-19 infections, said James Naismith, a professor of structural biology at the University of Oxford. It seems likely that the Indian variant will mostly confine itself to the unvaccinated younger population. It is much less likely to cause serious disease in this group. However, less likely is not the same as zero. With large enough numbers of infections, appreciable numbers will get seriously ill.
Also Friday, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said the vaccine by Johnson & Johnson met the expected standards of safety, quality and effectiveness. The regulator previously authorized the two-dose regimens developed by Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, and Moderna.
The regulator said the vaccine developed by J&J subsidiary Janssen has been shown to be 67 percent effective overall in preventing COVID-19 infection and 85 percent effective in preventing severe disease or hospitalization. It can be be stored at refrigerator temperatures of 36 to 47 degrees Fahrenheit, which the regulator said makes it ideal for distribution to care homes and other locations.
Details of which groups will get the vaccine have yet to be determined. There was speculation it might only be administered to older adults after it was linked to reports of rare blood clots.
The Johnson & Johnsons vaccine looks set to be used as part of the countrys planned booster program in the fall. The British government has amended its order from last year of 30 million J&J doses to 20 million.
As Janssen is a single-dose vaccine, it will play an important role in the months to come as we redouble our efforts to encourage everyone to get their jabs and potentially begin a booster program later this year, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said.
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The UK outbreaks are still relatively small, but they serve as a cautionary tale for countries across the world that are returning to in-person education.
Scientists believe some of the new variants of the virus, including the B.1.617.2 variant first identified in India, might be more contagious. That could mean social distancing measures that were strong enough to prevent the spread of the "original" virus may not be sufficient to stop transmission of these new strains.
As more schools reopen and new variants become dominant, outbreaks among younger students may become inevitable. Children are currently excluded from vaccination programs in most of the world. Even in the US, one of the few countries currently vaccinating younger people, children under the age of 12 are not eligible for the shot.
As of Tuesday, the B.1.617.2 variant had been found in 54 countries, according to the World Health Organization. While the variant remains uncommon in the US, its share of cases overall is growing, data from the CDC show.
On May 11, the WHO said the United Kingdom had reported the largest number of cases of the strain outside India, although it cautioned that the data may be incomplete, since it depends on countries' abilities to conduct genetic sequencing.
Public Health England says the proportion of B.1.617.2 cases is growing fast.
Two towns in the north of the country, Bolton and Bradford, have seen major outbreaks of the strain in recent weeks.
Kit Yates, a mathematical biologist and senior lecturer at the University of Bath, said the number of cases among children between the ages of 10 and 14 has never been higher in Bolton.
Yates said the three worst-impacted age groups in the area are all children and teenagers, with most cases recorded in kids between the ages of 10 and 14, followed by those aged 15 to 19 and then those in the five to nine age bracket.
"The rates of infection seem highest among school-age children, where rises were seen earlier, and this now appears to be spreading to older age groups" in areas with B.1.617.2 outbreaks, said Deepti Gurdasani, an epidemiologist and senior lecturer at Queen Mary University in London.
Schools could be driving outbreaks
"The variant seems to have spread among children first, and became dominant among children, before gaining dominance in other age groups," she said.
What experts don't yet know is whether the high number of cases among children means they might be more susceptible to the new variants, or whether there is something about the school environment that makes the new variants spread more easily.
Schools have been open as normal in the UK since March, with attendance compulsory for all but the most vulnerable students. Meanwhile, many other restrictions remain in place, so schools are among the few places where people are mixing freely.
"We did see rises in prevalence [in] school-age children when schools first went back [in March]," Yates said. "This is probably as a result of large numbers of unvaccinated individuals being in close contact with each other indoors for long periods of time," he added.
The UK is now vaccinating people over the age of 32. Official data from the government show that more than 72% of adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, with 44% now classed as fully vaccinated.
"You may see a skew in the age distribution of cases; as you get higher levels of vaccination in the elderly, you're more likely to see younger people getting infected," said Mike Tildesley, an associate professor at the University of Warwick. "I mean, it's not going to increase the number in that age group to compensate, but it may be that you see an increased proportion."
Jason Oke, senior statistician at the Nuffield department of primary care health sciences at the University of Oxford, said outbreaks in schools might continue for some time, because it is unlikely the virus will be completely eliminated any time soon.
"I might be pessimistic, but I think there are always going to be little pockets, places where it can spread quickly and it's difficult to see how we can overcome that, other than taking children out of schools, which I don't think we really want to do," he said, adding that while there are children with underlying health conditions who are more at risk from the virus, Covid-19 isn't dangerous to most children.
The biggest risk stemming from school outbreaks is that children will bring the virus home and spread it to more vulnerable people, but that risk is being eliminated fast with vaccinations.
Worries in Singapore
The UK isn't the only country seeing new cases among children. Singapore, which has also identified cases of the B.1.617.2 variant, shut nearly all its schools last week after a handful of new cases emerged there. Announcing the closures, the country's education minster Chan Chun Sing said there were worries about the new strains affecting younger children.
However, the ministry later said on its official Facebook page that there was little evidence children are more prone to catching the new variant.
The UK government doesn't appear too concerned about the variants spreading in schools -- so far, at least. As of last week, the government no longer requires masks to be worn in schools.
Gurdasani said the decision to lift the mask mandate went directly against scientific advice.
"It's very concerning that the UK government, which claims to be 'following the data,' has completely ignored the data and decided to remove masks from schools against all scientific advice," Gurdasani said. "We see several school outbreaks and rapid spread among school-age children across parts of England ... it's clear that we need to be strengthening these mitigations, rather than weakening them."
Some experts say it is possible the increase in cases in schools looks dramatic because the UK has significantly expanded its coronavirus testing program, with all children aged 12 and over now tested twice a week -- even if they don't show any symptoms.
"We've got really good testing capabilities to detect cases that maybe we missed before, in the younger age groups who perhaps don't even have any symptoms," said statistician Oke.
And while there have been significant spikes in infections among children in Bolton and other areas affected by the B.1.617.2 variant, little is known about how serious these cases have been.
"We don't know anything about the cases clinically -- we don't know if they've got symptoms, we don't know if people are unwell, we might be picking up lots of mild, asymptomatic cases," he said.
A majority of Major League Baseball's 30 teams have been able to relax coronavirus protocols after two additional clubs qualified and raised the total to 16 franchises reaching 85% vaccinations for players and other on-field personnel.
However, the pace of vaccinations has slowed markedly.
The commissioner's office and players' association said Friday that three additional teams had reached the 85% level of having received final doses and would be able to relax protocols within the next two weeks once they are fully vaccinated. The teams were not identified.
1 Related
Relaxed protocols include dropping the requirements for face masks in dugouts and bullpens and loosening restrictions on mobility during road trips.
MLB said more than 84% of all Tier 1 individuals -- such as players, managers, coaches, trainers and support personnel -- had been partially or fully vaccinated, up just 0.1% from the previous week, and 81.2% had been fully vaccinated, up 2.4% from the previous week.
This season, there have been 62 positive COVID-19 tests -- from 34 players and 28 staff -- among 176,260 samples tested, a 0.035% positive rate. The positive tests are among 23 teams.
Also Friday, the Philadelphia Phillies said they will return to 100% capacity at Citizens Bank Park for their June 4 game against the Washington Nationals. Philadelphia had said May 13 that they would reach full capacity June 12 against the New York Yankees. The change allows full houses for six additional games.
The first winner of Ohios first $1 million Vax-a-Million vaccination incentive prize was driving home when she received a call about the good news from the state governor Mike DeWine, AP reports.
A whirlwind, Abigail Bugenske, 22, said on Thursday morning during a news conference. It absolutely has not processed yet. I am still digesting it and I like to say that it feels like this is happening to a different person. I cannot believe it. Bugenske said she plans to donate to charities but then invest most of it.
The winner of a full college scholarship was eighth grader Joseph Costello of Englewood near Dayton. Very excited, Costello said as he sat between his parents, Colleen and Rich, during the virtual news conference. Although its a long way off, Joseph said hes thought about Ohio State or Miami of Ohio for college.
Bugenske said she received the Moderna vaccine as soon as she was eligible, long before the lottery was announced. The Costellos said they were already vaccinated and had planned to have their children vaccinated by the end of the month, but the lottery announcement inspired them to move those appointments up.
During a scheduled visit to Cleveland, the US president Joe Biden said, Ohio has a new millionaire! I tell you what, who wouldathunk it, a million bucks for getting a vaccine? But its working.
More than 2.7 million adults signed up for the $1 million prize and more than 104,000 children aged 12-17 entered the drawing for the scholarship, which includes tuition, room and board, and books. Four more $1 million and college scholarship winners will be announced each Wednesday for the next four weeks.
DeWine, a Republican, announced the program May 12 to boost lagging vaccination rates.
The Ohio Lottery conducted the first drawing Monday afternoon at its draw studio in Cleveland using a random number generator to pick the winners ahead of time, and then confirmed the eligibility of the ultimate winner.
Participants must register to enter by phone or via the Vax-a-Million website. Teens can register themselves, but parents or legal guardians must verify their eligibility. The names of entrants who dont win will be carried over week to week. The deadline for new registrations is just before midnight on Sunday.
I know that some may say, DeWine, youre crazy! This million-dollar drawing idea of yours is a waste of money, the governor said when he announced the incentive. But with the vaccine now readily available, the real waste, is a life lost to Covid-19, the governor said.
The concept seemed to work, at least initially. The number of people in Ohio aged 16+ who received their first dose jumped 33% in the week after the state announced the lottery, according to an Associated Press analysis.
But the same review also found that vaccination rates are still well below figures from earlier in April and March.
More than 5.2 million people in Ohio had at least started the vaccination process as of Monday, or about 45% of the state. About 4.6 million people are done getting vaccinated, or 39% of the state.
Nationally, more than 165 million Americans have started the vaccination process, or about nearly 50% of the population. More than 131 million are fully vaccinated, or nearly 40%.
Vax-a-Million is open to permanent Ohio residents who have received either the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine or their first part of the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna vaccination.
DeWines proposal inspired similar vaccine-incentive lotteries in Colorado, Maryland, New York state and Oregon.
In Colorado, the Democratic governor Jared Polis said the state will have a weekly lottery for five residents to win $1 million to incentivise vaccinations. Colorado is setting aside $5 million of federal coronavirus relief funds that would have gone toward vaccine advertising for five residents to win $1 million each.
