BROOKINGS – Get your shot for your shot to win.
The City of Brookings is giving away $50,000 in cash prizes as well as $10,000 in scholarships as part of a COVID-19 vaccine incentive program. Prizes include ten $5,000 cash prizes as well as ten $1,000 scholarships to South Dakota State University students.
Winners will be randomly selected from among all eligible entries received. Two scholarship winners will be announced weekly. All other prize winners will be announced Oct. 14. The deadline to enter the sweepstakes is Oct. 10 by 11:59 p.m. CST. Enter the sweepstakes online by visiting www.swiftelcenter.com/yourshot.
Eligibility
Individuals are eligible to enter the Your Shot to Win sweepstakes if they are:
• A legal resident of the U.S. and a resident of Brookings County.
• Currently enrolled at South Dakota State University and living in Brookings County.
• At least 12 years of age (for minors, a parent or guardian must complete the registration).
• If they have, at the time of entry, received at least one dose of Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine or a single dose of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and/or are fully vaccinated.
• Not a City of Brookings employee involved in the drawing or a household member of such employee, employee of the State of South Dakota involved in the drawing or a household member of such employee, Swiftel Center employee involved in the drawing or a household member of such employee, or an appointed state official.
The official rules and regulations are available online: www.swiftelcenter.com/yourshot.
Sweepstakes entry
To enter the sweepstakes, registrants are required to provide their name, date of birth, email address, phone number, home address, and the location of the place that provided their COVID-19 vaccine.
Entry for children between the ages of 12 and 17 further requires a parent or guardian’s name, email address, and phone number.
Entry also requires agreement with all official rules and regulations of the drawing and agreement to allow the City of Brookings to verify your vaccination information if selected as a winner.
People who do not have access to the internet can access the Brookings Public Library to provide information to enter the drawing.
Double your chances
If you receive a vaccine and/or become fully vaccinated between Sept. 1 and Sept. 21, 2021, you are eligible for one regular entry as well as one additional entry for the drawing. All other eligible participants can submit only one entry for the drawing.
Any duplicate entries (of individuals not meeting the criteria for double entry) will be removed and disqualified.
Funding
According to City of Brookings Chief Financial Officer Erick Rangel, the cash prizes are funded with American Rescue Plan funds, which allows the use of funds for vaccine incentive programs.
The Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund info sheet states: “Programs that provide incentives reasonably expected to increase the number of people who choose to get vaccinated or motivate people to get vaccinated sooner than they otherwise would have, are an allowable use of funds so long as such costs are reasonably proportional to the expected public health benefit.”
The SDSU scholarships are a gift from the SDSU Foundation to the city, Rangel said.
Rangel told the Brookings City Council on Tuesday that the city worked with epidemiologist Bonny Specker to design the program “to determine a realistic scope,” and that the $50,000 spent is expected to have a good return on investment of about 245%, considering public health benefits and hospitalization costs.
“Our expectation is to get anywhere from 500-600 individuals vaccinated, which would justify the program,” Rangel said.
City Manager Paul Briseno said a number of college communities have done similar programs across the nation, including in Vermillion.
“We’ve taken what they’ve done, and, I would say, we’ve made it better, which we always try to do,” Briseno said.
Swiftel Center General Manager Mike Logan said his team developed the incentive program in the same way they market a ticket giveaway. The program went live at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
Council comment
Councilor Nick Wendell wanted to reiterate that to be eligible for the program, people just need to have at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, “which means that folks who have received the vaccine prior to the Sept. 14 date, of course, are eligible as well. I know as councilors we have gotten some questions about those that are vaccinated already or will be post-Sept. 14 receiving one dose.”
Logan confirmed that. “That’s correct. So anybody that has been vaccinated previously to the rollout of the initiative is eligible to register,” he said.
Logan said the scholarships are only for current SDSU students, and the $5,000 prizes will be awarded within the entire pool of those who enter.
Wendell said he appreciated city and Swiftel leaders and SDSU for partnering in the effort.
“I think one of the areas of concern we’ve had as a council and as a community is just looking at how different age groups have participated in vaccination. … Our older age groups are north of 80% in some cases in terms of their vaccination rate, but 18- to 39-year-olds, of course, we have really low participation,” Wendell said.
“So if this encourages those 18 to 39 to get a vaccine, or to get that second dose if they’ve already gotten one, it really will have a phenomenal result in our community given that our vaccination participation rate in that age group in particular is relatively low. … So that partnership with SDSU is really crucial,” he added.
Councilor Holly Tilton Byrne noted that SDSU is also offering an incentive program of its own, providing students with Hobo Dough for doses they receive.
“So for SDSU students, it seems they have a couple of different options for great programs right now,” she added.
