Poland launches lottery offering millions in prizes for people vaccinated against Covid

“We have noticed a significant decrease in the number of people registering for vaccinations,” said Michał Dworczyk, the minister in charge of Poland’s vaccine rollout, at a press conference yesterday.

At one point, up to 300,000 people were registering a day. But during the last week that figure has fallen to around 50,000. Already in May the health minister, Adam Niedzielski, informed that the registration pace was slowing down. “It’s a really great challenge,” said Dworczyk yesterday.

Poland has now delivered a total of over 27.6 million doses, with more than 12 million people (31.5%) of the population fully vaccinated (with either the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine or two doses of Moderna, AstraZeneca or Pfizer).

According to official statistics presented by the health ministry, 77% of those aged over 70 are either already inoculated or registered for the jab. But that percentage drops with each age group: 66% for 60 to 69 years old; 56% of those aged 50 to 59; and only a half of people in the 40-49 age group.

Despite the fact that all adults have been able to register since early May, among those aged 30-39 the figure is just 38%, while for 18- to 29-year-olds it is 35%.

“We need to intensify our effort to vaccinate as many people as possible,” said Dworczyk. “Without reaching a certain vaccination level”, Poland may face a “fourth wave of the pandemic”, necessitating the reintroduction of restrictions, including possible lockdown, he warned.

The lottery is meant to boost the vaccination drive, said Olgierd Cieślik, CEO of Totalizator Sportowy, who hopes that the rewards on offer will encourage those undecided to get a jab. People who have already received or registered for vaccines are also able to enter the contest.

People wishing to participate need to register using their Online Patient Account (Internetowe Konto Pacjenta) or through the helpline of the national vaccination programme, calling 989 and expressing their consent to participate in the lottery and providing a telephone number.

• daily – 200 zloty given to one in every 500 people or 500 zloty to one in every 2,000
• weekly – drawn every Wednesday, with 60 prizes of 50,000 zloty and 720 Segway Ninebot electric scooters
• monthly – six prizes of 100,000 zloty and six Toyota Corollas
• final – drawn on 6 October, with two prizes of one million zloty and two Toyota C-HRs

The lottery draws will be conducted by a certified drawing machine, with the results published on a dedicated website. Each winner will be notified within two working days by phone call or text message with a special code from PKO BP bank allowing them to withdraw their prize from a cash machine or in a branch.

The government is also offering further prizes of one million zloty to districts that have the highest vaccination rates by the end of October.

The government has already been carrying out an advertising campaign, under the slogan “The Final Straight”, featuring sports stars and actors encouraging Poles to vaccinate. It is also offering grants of between 10,000 and 40,000 zloty (depending on population size) to municipalities to organise their own campaigns.

The idea of making coronavirus vaccines compulsory has been floated by some officials, including the prime minister’s chief COVID-19 advisor as well as the city council of Wałbrzych, which wants to make them obligatory for residents and workers. Ministers have so far, however, ruled this out.

Asked about making vaccines compulsory, Jarosław Kaczyński – chairman of the ruling party and Poland’s de facto leader – told Sieci that “you have to start with encouragement and persuasion” to work towards herd immunity. But he admitted that the government might need to “risk a great deal politically if incentives are not enough”.

Main image credit: Twitter.com/szczepimysie