PORTLAND, Oregon — The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) has figured out how to get the names of people who got COVID shots at the federal Department of Veterans Affairs into the state's vaccine lottery.
The state will create a place where people can simply add their name to be included in the drawing, which includes a $1 million prize and 36 $10,000 prizes, one for each county in Oregon.
Dave Baden, an OHA leader in charge of vaccinations, talked about the plan with KGW Wednesday.
“We are working on a way for someone to go in and sort of self-attest that they did receive a vaccination. And on the back end, there would have to be some proof shown that they did indeed get vaccinated,” said Baden.
The OHA has not announced a website or email address yet for names to be sent into the state.
The plan will solve a huge problem.
Roughly 44,000 people in Oregon received their COVID vaccination through the VA. But because of the way federal rules are set up, the government shares the number of people vaccinated through the VA with the state, but not the names of those who got the shots.
The last day to get vaccinated and be eligible for the COVID vaccine lottery is June 27. The drawing will be held June 28.
Have a comment or story idea for Pat Dooris? Email him at pdooris@kgw.com