COLUMBUS — Citing the success of the “Vax-a-Million” vaccine cash incentive offered earlier this year, Gov. Mike DeWine on Thursday announced a new college scholarship incentive program aimed at boosting the number of young people receiving the coronavirus vaccine.
The “Ohio Vax-to-School” program will offer five $100,000 college scholarships and 50 $10,000 college scholarships, which can be used for college, trade school, or other opportunity advancements, to vaccinated Ohioans age 12 to 25.
“We’re targeting this group. It’s the group, frankly, that has the lowest level of vaccination,” DeWine said during a press briefing.
The governor said only 46% of Ohioans aged 12-25 statewide have received the initial dose of the vaccine, with the numbers far lower in certain parts of the state.
“We “think it’s very important for those numbers to go up,” DeWine said.
Prizes will be announced Monday through Friday beginning the week of Oct. 11 and more details, including information on how to register, will be announced in the next week, DeWine said.
DeWine said that keeping children in schools is a top priority for the state, for parents and for teachers.
The surge in COVID-19 cases brought on by the delta variant is burdening Ohio’s hospitals, DeWine said.
Since mid-July, DeWine says there has been a a 16-fold increase in the number of patients being treated for the disease and 40% of patients on ventilators are being treated for COVID.
The growing number of cases, coupled with a staffing shortage, has strained the state’s health care system “to its limits,” Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, director of the Ohio Department of Health, said.