Today, Governor Roy Cooper and Chief Deputy Secretary for Health of the North Carolina Health and Human Services Kody Kinsley went to the Johnston County Health Department’s vaccine clinic in Smithfield to meet North Carolinians receiving their vaccines. Governor Cooper thanked the health department staff and North Carolina National Guardsmen on site for their work distributing more than 50,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and encouraged people to get their shot before next Wednesday’s first cash drawing.
“With the highly contagious Delta variant of this virus spreading mostly through unvaccinated people, it’s critical that we continue to get more people vaccinated,” Governor Cooper said. "Getting a shot is safe and easy. It protects you, your family and others who come in contact with you. And now, you could win a million bucks on top of all that."
Starting Wednesday, June 23, one North Carolinian will win a $1 million cash prize every other week for being vaccinated until August 4 for a total of four winners. Additionally, four people between the ages of 12 and 17 will win a $125,000 scholarship to any college of their choosing. All vaccinated North Carolinians are automatically eligible, and anybody who gets their first dose between now and August 4 will have their name entered twice.
To date, North Carolina has administered nearly 8.7 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 51 percent of the adult population fully vaccinated. Fifty-five percent of adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, including 81 percent of people 65 and over. Approximately 2.5 million adults in North Carolina have not been vaccinated. Governor Cooper urges unvaccinated people to get their shot quickly as the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 spreads across the country.
"The vision of the Johnston County Public Health Department is ‘Healthy Johnstonians in all Communities.’ Since the beginning of this pandemic, we have worked to provide the opportunity for our residents to be healthy--from case investigation, contact tracing, testing, and now vaccination. It is our goal to remove any barriers to vaccination by offering all available vaccines daily here at our health department and providing outreach clinics in our community,” said Dr. Marilyn Pearson, Health Director of the Johnston County Health Department. “I encourage everyone to take the opportunity to get vaccinated so that we can get back to doing the things we all love and enjoy."
Read more about the Summer Vax Cash program. Visit YourSpotYourShot.nc.gov (English) or Vacunate.nc.gov (Spanish) to find the latest information on vaccine distribution in North Carolina. The state’s COVID-19 vaccine hotline number is 888-675-4567. People can find nearby vaccine providers using NCDHHS’ online tool, Find a Vaccine Location.
Video footage of this event will be available for media use here.