CVS offering sweepstakes for Super Bowl trip, other prizes as incentive for COVID vaccine recipients

Last year, seats at the Super Bowl were limited due to the pandemic.

This year, getting inoculated from COVID-19 could be your ticket to the big game.

CVS Health announced on Thursday that it will allow people who get vaccinated at its stores, have gotten vaccinated at its stores or show they to do so to enter a sweepstakes giveaway for a variety of prizes, including a trip to the Super Bowl, $5,000 to fund a family reunion, cruises or cash.

The move comes amid a growing number of incentives offered by states, health departments and businesses throughout the nation to convince Americans to get vaccinated, which is considered vital to ending the pandemic. Other incentives have included a $1 million Vax-a-Million lottery prize in Ohio, free donuts from Krispy Kreme, free flights from United Airlines and free beer from Samuel Adams.

This “will bring us one step closer to all the things we’ve missed during the past 14 months, and keep our country moving in the right direction,” said Kyu Rhee, chief medical officer of CVS Health, in a statement.

CVS, which is calling the sweepstakes #OneStepCloser, said everyone 18 and up who gets vaccinated or intends to do so at CVS or through a CVS clinician at a long-term care facility, Return Ready clinic or off-site clinic is eligible.

The sweepstakes begin June 1 and continue until July 10, but people vaccinated before June 1 are also eligible, spokesman Joe Goode said.

The drugstore chain, which has administered more than 17 million vaccines so far, said it is giving away more than a thousand prizes.

They include 125 $500 giveaways, five $5,000 family reunions, 100 seven-day cruises for two on Norwegian Cruise Line, and a VIP trip to Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles for two people from Procter & Gamble.

More giveaways may be coming for vaccinated Americans. With Ohio’s success in promoting vaccination through its lottery program, other states have gone down a similar path. The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday officially authorized states to use federal relief aid to do so, as well.

About 61.8% of American adults had gotten at least one dose of a COVID vaccine as of Thursday morning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.