"Get a shot, win the lottery!"  That's what state leaders across the country are proclaiming.  If you live in Kentucky, get your COVID shot at a Walmart or Kroger store and you'll receive a free lottery ticket for a statewide nightly drawing of $225,000. 

New York State is offering free lottery tickets to those who agree to get the shot.  The top prize is $5 million.

Not to be outdone, Ohio governor Mike DeWine announced the launch of a $1-million lottery for residents of the state who get the shot.  There will be five "Ohio Vax-a-Million" drawings in the state.

Maryland governor Larry Hogan is giving all vaccinated residents a chance to win $40,000, starting May 25.  The Maryland lottery will randomly select and award the prize every day to a vaccinated resident.  Drawings will continue each day until the Fourth of July, when one resident will win a grand prize of $400,000.

Compared to New York and Ohio, other states are being cheapskates.  In Maine, you can get a park pass, fishing or hunting license, or a $20 LL Bean gift card.  Alabama offered a chance to drive your car two laps at Talladega, and Connecticut will give you a free drink.

Why the sudden urge to bribe people to take their shots so they can hug Grandma again?  The CDC is reporting a steady decline for the injections since March 31.

Shots declined from 4,304,851 on April 1 to 1,111,141 on May 21, a 74% drop in just 50 days. 

The odds of winning the cash or prizes vary among the different states, but the odds of coming in second are clearly understood.

VAERS.com is a government website that tracks adverse side-effects from getting the shot.  And OpenVAERS.com summarizes the results.

So while you might have a 1 in 100,000 chance of winning a state lottery after your injection, here are your odds of a different kind of second-place prize...

• A trip to Urgent Care: 133 in 1,000
• Getting Hospitalized: 60 in 1,000
• A Severe Allergic Reaction: 40 in 1,000
• A Heart Attack: 7 in 1,000
• Bell's Palsy: 6 in 1,000
• Anaphylactic Shock: 5 in 1,000
• A Miscarriage: 1 in 1,000

And the grand prize?

• Sudden Death: 21 in 1,000

And now reports are emerging of side-effects not just from taking the shot, but simply by being around someone else who has gotten the injection.  Women in particular, are reporting horrific side effects such as heavy vaginal bleeding, unusual menstrual cycles, miscarriages, and stillbirths just hours or days after being exposed to people who have gotten the shot.  An independent study is underway to quantify these effects.

People have been told they need to take the injection so they can hug their grandmothers, but what if they knew there was a chance their shot could cause their unborn child to be miscarried? 

So if you're moved by the offer of free lottery tickets or two laps at Talladega, that's fine, but the reason vaccine injections are rapidly declining in popularity is that most people are beginning to understand that it's not a good idea to gamble your life on an unproven injection for a disease where the survival rate for people below 70 years old is above 99.5%.

Image: CDC.

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