Here are the winners from the second round of Kentucky’s Shot at a Million vaccine incentive – Courier Journal

FRANKFORT Ginger Schultzgot the COVID-19 vaccine in April to help protect her husband and her mom, who both have lung conditions.

On Friday, the Louisville womanbecame the second Kentuckian to win $1 million through the state's vaccine incentive program.

She entered the state's Shot at a Millioncontest two days ago, though she said she didn't have an "inkling" that she would actually win "I just thought, why not try?"

"Why take a chance on getting very sick or possibly die or passing it on to someone else?" Schultz said, adding she was "very concerned" about her 85-year-old mother contracting COVID-19, and her mainconcernwas for her mom and husband.

Previous winners:Here are the winners of Kentucky's first Shot at a Million COVID vaccine incentive giveaway

Getting the vaccine, she said, is "the right thing to do for yourself, the people you love and the people you come in contactwith."

In addition,five young people each won a scholarshiptoa public college, university or technical school in the commonwealth,including room, board, tuition and textbooks.

The scholarship winners are: Shelby Anderson, 14, of Louisville; Isabella Brozak, 15, of Crestwood; TJ Ponder, 14, of Owenton; Reese Johnson, 17, of Harrodsburg; and Julian Sandberg, 14, of Ft. Mitchell.

Johnson, who wants to attend the University of Kentucky and become a teacher, said she got the vaccine a couple of months before learningof the incentive program "to not only protect myself but my loved ones;my community around me."

"The vaccine to meis just a way to try and help things get back to normal and just help protect everyone around me."

Sandberg said he got the vaccine right after school ended because, "I was sick of having to wear masks and I couldn't goinside … with my friends. So, I just wanted everything to be normal again."

Anderson, who said in a statement she is immunocompromised, got the vaccine without knowing about the incentive program and "there was no second guessing."

Brozak said in a statement she feels it's "important" to get the vaccine and is "so grateful" to have won the scholarship.

And Pondersaid the scholarshipwin will help his mom, who is a single mother, "a lot." He got the vaccine, he said, "so when I go to school I can play football."

This group of winners was the second set of three.In total, three Kentuckians 18 or older will become millionairesand 15 Kentuckians ages 12 to 17 will get full-ride scholarships to a public college, university or technical school in the commonwealth.

The first drawing was in early July. Winners aren't eligible for future drawings. For full rules and information about how to enter, visitthis website:govstatus.egov.com/shot-at-a-million-home.

So far, 692,000 Kentucky adults and 40,900 youths have entered the giveaway.The final drawing will be on Aug. 26, with the winners announced the next day.

At least 2,291,041 Kentuckians have been vaccinated against COVID-19, about 52% of the population. The delta variant continues to drive cases up in the unvaccinated populations.

Following the awards ceremony, Beshear spoke about the delta variant and the upcoming return to school for Kentucky students.

State health commissioner Dr. Steven Stackon Thursday said updated health guidance saysschools "should require" everyone to mask up.

On Friday, though,the Archdiocese of Louisville announced masks would be optional.

Beshear said "we'll do whatever it takes" to make sure schools can continue instruction, but hasn't yet been asked to consider a special session to expand NTI (virtual) days.

"It's going to be really interesting when school district X that refused to do the right thing comes asking for more NTI days when they wouldn't have needed them if they'd done the right thing."

This story may be updated.

Reach health reporter Sarah Ladd at sladd@courier-journal.com. Follow her on Twitter at@ladd_sarah.

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Here are the winners from the second round of Kentucky's Shot at a Million vaccine incentive - Courier Journal