COLUMBUS, Ohio — Columbus Public Health says vaccine demand has been steady with not too dramatic of a change since the Vax-a-Million lottery program was announced for Ohio residents.
However, there was a significant spike over the weekend.
“When we had our vaccine clinic at the fairgrounds on Saturday. That was the highest number of no appointment vaccines that we had given in any given day,” said Dr. Mysheika Roberts of Columbus Public Health.
Dr. Roberts says on a day like that, Columbus Public Health usually sees about 100 people come in for a vaccine without an appointment.
On Saturday, May 15, they saw about 300.
Dr. Roberts said that could come down to multiple factors, aside from VaxMillion.
“But on Thursday morning, was the first time that 12 to 15-year-olds could get vaccinated,” she said.
“So we had that new population coming in to get vaccinated.”
Dr. Roberts says Columbus Public Health has not crunched the numbers on which factors caused people to get vaccinated in the past week.
For now, it looks like the Vax-a-Million drawing isn’t dissuading anyone from getting vaccinated, and smaller pharmacies like Crosby’s Drugs would agree.
“That happened and then boom. We went from two appointments to like 25 appointments,” said pharmacist Cindy Kryc.
“You could tell it was probably that.”
Kryc said Crosby’s has had people specifically say they were getting their shot to enter the lottery.
"I’m for whatever it takes. We all need to get vaccinated,” she said.
She is not the only medical professional that feels that way.
Columbus Public Health said they are happy with any motivation out there to get people vaccinated, and they hope the Vax A Million drawing will convince more people to get their shot.
Columbus Public Health will be giving vaccines on May 20 and 21 at Stonewall Columbus.
Starting June 3 they will be giving vaccines at the Columbus Commons every Thursday in June during the lunch hour.
The Vax-a-Million drawing lasts until June 20.