Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s Financial Incentives for COVID-19 Vaccination

After the rollout of the mRNA COVID vaccines in December 2020, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R-OH) began creating “incentive programs” to entice the 11,764,342 residents of Ohio  to take the experimental mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. How did so many Ohioans receive the dangerous mRNA COVID vaccine? You may be surprised to know that they were paid or bribed to do so.

Governor DeWine partnered the Ohio Department of Health with the Ohio Lottery for what he called his “Vax a Million” program which he announced on May 12, 2021.

In this program, originally reported on local ABC News, there would be a lottery with five separate drawings held and the lottery would be held from May 26, 2021, through June 23, 2021. The lottery would yield, he promised, five $1-million winners. The winners would have to be 18 years of age or older.

It’s not just adults that were targeted; children were targeted as well with the bribery via lottery. A lottery drawing was also presented for minors between 12- and 17-years-old. The winners’ prize: full four-year scholarships at any Ohio State college or university, to which they would be admitted, with room and board, books and supplies covered.

What teenager from a low- to middle-income background with high hopes of attending college would resist entering such a lottery?

State officials reported that 2,758,490 lottery participants received vaccines prior to the first drawing in May. Of those, fully 104,000 were minors. Vaccination lottery participants’ numbers rose slightly for the second drawing in June.

By the end of both drawings the cumulative number of Ohio citizens who were lottery registered and vaccinated rose to 3.2 million with 133,000 minors. There were five weekly ‘Vax-a-million’ drawings in total, with the final drawing on June 23, 2021.

The bribery programs Governor DeWine offered the citizens of Ohio did not stop there. Now he moved on to State employees.

In late July of 2021, as Associated Press reports, Governor DeWine announced a new incentive program to encourage vaccination for state employees: he offered them $100 each to take the vaccine, and, if their spouses took the vaccine as well, the employees would receive an additional $25.00. Gov DeWine stated, “Vaccines are the most effective strategy at stopping the spread of COVID-19 and preventing serious illness.”

At the same time, simultaneously Ohio Medicare and Medicaid, Ohio government agencies, got into the act.

Ohio Medicare and Medicaid along with their private health insurance partners, sent out frequent emails enticing members, also with a $100 REWARD to take the experimental mRNA vaccine. Medicaid is targeted at low income families and individuals. Indeed, the Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics was instrumental joining this effort. This pediatrician’s organization supported the Ohio plan of mass vaccination seeking to persuade Ohio families, reluctant to take vaccines, by founding children’s vaccination “fairs.” The fairs were set up at venues throughout Ohio. These fairs targeted children 12 years of age and older. The Ohio American Academy of Pediatrics instructed Ohio pediatricians to tell their patients that $100 gift cards would be given to them in exchange for their receiving the COVID-19 vaccines.

The bribes did not stop there as the ‘Vax2School’ program was announced for children aged five to 11 – ohiovax2school.com – with 150 scholarships of $10,000.

Conclusion:

Is it legal to bribe children and low-income families to accept a dangerous medical intervention? Is it ethical? The answer is for lawyers to help determine; but, in looking back on what was done to the people of Ohio, Governor DeWine surely will be relegated to the wrong side of history.