More than 5 million people have received at least 1 dose of COVID vaccine in Ohio

Nearly 43% of the state’s population has at least one shot and more than 37% have finished the inoculation.

Tuesday also marked the first day residents could sign up for Vax-a-Million, a five-week drawing that gives vaccinated Ohioans a chance at winning $1 million or a full-ride scholarship to an Ohio college or university.

To opt-in for the drawings, visit https://www.ohiovaxamillion.com/ or call 1-833-427-5634 between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m.

The first drawing will take place on Monday, May 24, and the winners will be announced Wednesday, May 26, at 7:29 p.m. The winners will be announced each Wednesday on TV and at https://www.ohiovaxamillion.com/.

The goal of the drawing is to increase interest and encourage people to look into getting vaccine, ODH Director Stephanie McCloud said.

“This is something that is just a bold initiative to raise awareness,” she said.

Gov. Mike DeWine added Monday that he understood the lottery is “unusual.”

“Did I expect there to be criticism of this drawing? Sure, it’s not been done before,” he said. “It’s unusual, but these are unusual times. I think we have to be bold and do everything in our power to get rid of this pandemic and drive it into the ground.”

DeWine said health departments anecdotally told him they were seeing an uptake in the vaccine again since the Vax-a-Million drawings was announced.

On Friday, May 14, Ohio saw the highest number of vaccine administered in three weeks, he said. According to ODH, 25,406 first doses were administered.

Daily cases remained below 1,000 for the fourth day in a row in Ohio Tuesday.

The state reported 993 daily cases, bringing its total to 1,092,616.

Over the last 21 days, Ohio has recorded an average of 1,207 cases a day. The state hasn’t reported more than 1,300 daily cases since Wednesday.

Ohio reported 118 hospitalizations and 15 ICU admissions on Tuesday. Both were slightly above the 21-day averages of 104 hospitalizations a day and 12 ICU admissions a day.

The state also reported 100 deaths. ODH updates death information twice a week. Due to some states irregularly reporting death data to ODH’s Bureau of Vital Statistics, death data can fluctuate. The date a death is reported does not reflect the day the death occurred.

Throughout the pandemic, Ohio has reported 19,628 total deaths.