If the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves emergency use authorization of the Pfizer vaccine for ages 5 to 11, Vax-2-School will be expanded to ages 5 to 25, Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff announced Friday.
Ohio also doubled the total amount of scholarship funds being offered to $2 million. Initially the state planned to award five $100,000 scholarships and 50 $10,000 scholarships. However, now the program includes five $100,000 scholarships and 150 $10,000 scholarships.
Because the FDA is expected to grant authorization for the vaccine in 5- to 11-year-olds soon, the state is waiting to announce the deadline to register or when the first drawing will happen.
“We want to keep the window of opportunity as long as possible for this age group,” Vanderhoff said. “...This is an important age bracket for us to include in this effort. It really seemed prudent and right to give them a chance to participate.”
Those who previously registered for Ohio’s Vax-a-Million campaign will have to register again to be part of Vax-2-School. The program is not open to those who won one of the Vax-a-Million drawings.
Participants can only enter once to be eligible for the drawings. Duplicate entries will be removed.
The campaign aims to encourage vaccination in younger Ohioans, which have the lowest vaccination rate in the state.
As of Sunday, 54% of Ohioans have started the COVID vaccine, including 18.22% of those 19 and younger and 48.23% of people 20 to 29, according to ODH. At least 80% of Ohioans 65 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Those interested in getting the coronavirus vaccine can find a provider by visiting https://gettheshot.coronavirus.ohio.gov/.
About the Author