LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Louisville woman is celebrating after becoming the third and final winner of Kentucky's 'Shot at a Million' vaccine lottery.
Gov. Andy Beshear announced Mary Mattingly as the winner of the $1 million drawing. Mattingly accepted the win via video call.
“At the time of the call I was excited, very grateful and a little overwhelmed," she said "I felt so privileged to represent all of us that stayed home when needed, wore our masks, socially distanced, got tested and most of all, got the vaccine when it became available."
Mattingly said she was vaccinated to protect her family and healthcare workers around the state. She encouraged fellow Kentuckians to get vaccinated to prevent serious illness.
In addition to Mattingly's win, five Kentucky youth were selected for full scholarships to any public college, university, trade or technical school of their choice.
Marissa Herron of Mount Washington, Lillie Nielsen of Nicholasville, Jordan Ballard of Crestwood, Grider Burch of Lexington and Jaden Wattley of Louisville were the winners of the full ride scholarship.
“I want to thank Gov. Beshear for this opportunity," Wattley's father Jamar said. "It is truly a blessing for me and my family and also as a frontline registered nurse. I have taken care of the safest to the sickest people. It’s serious. Please get the vaccine. We’re tired, but we’re going to keep fighting the good fight. Help and do your part for us.”
Since the vaccine lottery was announced in June, a total of 762,174 adults entered to win $1 million and 47,544 Kentuckians 12-17 entered to win a full scholarship. Close to 420,000 Kentuckains have received a COVID-19 vaccine since the inception of the vaccine lottery.
“We offered this drawing as a way to encourage everyone to get one of the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. The response we’ve had for this sweepstakes has been great,” said Gov. Beshear. “But even with this drawing and other incentives, we urgently need more folks to get vaccinated. The delta variant of COVID-19 is burning through our population in every corner of the commonwealth.”
To date, 2,496,578 Kentuckians are vaccinated. For more information, visit ShotAtAMillion.ky.gov.
Watch the full 'Shot at a Million' announcement below:
RELATED: Kentucky has seen a steady increase in COVID-19 vaccinations. Did the vaccine lottery help?
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