Just across our northern border, a host of detractors weighed in when Governor Mike DeWine announced a plan earlier this month to enter vaccinated citizens into a lottery that produced five million dollar winners.

But a week after announcing a date for the first “Vax-A-Million” cartoon, Ohio saw a 53% increase in immunizations from the week before.

Designs for full scholarships at Ohio colleges and universities have been added to the gift list.

Maryland and New York took the Buckeye bandwagon on Thursday and announced their own COVID lotteries.

Maryland will be holding 40 draws over 40 days, with daily jackpots of $ 40,000, followed by a draw for the grand prize of $ 400,000 on July 4th. New York will be handing out $ 20 state lottery scratch tickets with a grand prize of $ 5 million to mass-vaccinated people vaccination sites.

On Friday, Oregon announced that it will hold a $ 1 million raffle on June 28 for vaccinated citizens over the age of 18, as well as $ 10,000 in raffles in each of the state’s 36 counties. Those under 18 who will be vaccinated will be entered into a draw for five college scholarships of $ 100,000.

Several states that have not taken the high-roller route are giving imaginative gifts to their vaccinated citizens.

Maine is giving out free tickets to Portland Sea Dogs baseball games, gift cards for LL Bean products, and free hunting and fishing licenses. Illinois offers passes to the Six Flags Great American theme park. And Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said he had not ruled out a “Joints for Jabs” inducement, making a quantity of state-legal recreational marijuana available to those who wish to ease the vaccination.

Meanwhile, on the home front, the Governor of Justice announced on Thursday that all vaccinated West Virginians aged 16 to 36 can now apply to receive the US $ 100 savings vouchers or US $ 100 gift cards. $ that he announced in April.

I guess the gift cards finally came back from the printer.