Early data shows incentives are having a positive effect on the COVID-19 vaccination rate in Pima County.
Pima County began offering Arizona Lottery $2 scratcher tickets on May 29 and is expanding that promotion to more locations for people who come in for their first doses. Other promotions have included admission to Pima Air & Space Museum, admission to the Reid Park Zoo, and $20 vouchers for a restaurant at Casino Del Sol.
In the next week, scratcher tickets will be available at several locations, with more sites – and different promotions -- potentially added.
An updated list of all the incentives and vaccination sites can be found at
pima.gov/covid19vaccine.
"It might be slight, but we're continuing to see increases across all the age groups, and the incentives just might be the push needed for some to get off the sidelines," said Dr. Theresa Cullen, the Pima County Health Department Director. "And all this is happening after people in Pima County have already decided to protect themselves, their families and their community by establishing one of the highest vaccination rates in the state.
"If the incentives help us keep the momentum, then it makes sense to do them, and do them even more."
According to the Arizona Department of Health Services'
data dashboard – click by county on the map – Pima County has the second-highest vaccination rate in the state – 53.3 percent of the total population has at least one dose. An astounding 90.4 percent of resident 65 and older have been vaccinated.
In the past week, Pima County saw a 2 percent increase in first-time vaccinations among 12-14 year-olds, a 2 percent bump among those 15 to 19, and a 1 percent increase in every 10-year age group after that (except those 50 to 59).
In
eight zip codes in Pima County, at least 74 percent of the population has finished the vaccination series – two doses for Pfizer and Moderna, and one dose for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The Arizona Lottery scratcher tickets have a maximum prize of $10,000 and assorted smaller cash prizes, with the overall odds of getting a winning ticket at 1 in 4. The incentives program is part of a larger national vaccination effort that has seen success across the county.