The province announced a lottery for vaccinated Manitobans on Wednesday as an incentive program. All in all, $2M in cash prizes and scholarships will be given away.

The local reaction to this announcement has been mixed.

Pallavi Sinha is from Steinbach.

“I really think that the government is doing everything they can to make people understand that vaccines are the only hope for getting us back to normalcy.”

Sinha says she has been closely following the fight against COVID-19 in India where she grew up. She notes it is awfully hard to watch, and a significant number of vaccines would certainly help the situation. She adds she doesn’t need any extra incentives.

“I am just doing my part to keep my family, my loved ones, my community safe. I don't want to spread the virus to anyone so that is my incentive. But yeah, the government doing [a lottery], that is really laudable. That the government is providing incentives, that is good if it can help.”

hopefully motivate some people to get out there and take their shot.”

Carriere says he isn't concerned with the fact that the province is putting $2M into this program.

“We spend $1.8B on healthcare in Manitoba every year. $2M is a drop in the bucket. If it was more like $200M, then it would make a difference in our healthcare, but let's be honest, $2M when we are already spending $1.8B, we are not going to miss that money.”

The province has also suggested that spending this money on the lottery will save the healthcare system money in the future as fewer people will be admitted to hospital with COVID-19.