The $1 million VaxU Scholarship promotion is down to its final week in Maryland.
Winners receive a $50,000 college scholarship through the program aimed at encouraging 12- to 17-year-olds to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The program is administered by the Maryland Department of Health and the Maryland Higher Education Commission. Twenty individuals will be awarded scholarships.
Gov. Larry Hogan said the state is nearing the 70% mark for having youth in that age range vaccinated.
“Another testament to our incredible vaccination campaign that is leading the nation,” Hogan said in a news release. “With one week remaining in the VaxU program, there’s still time to get vaccinated and quality for a $50,000 scholarship.”
According to the Maryland Higher Education Commission, the promotion consists of nine statewide drawings, and winners will receive a scholarship in the form of a prepaid College Trust or College Investment plan from Maryland 529 to cover tuition and fees for a four-year college or university.
Students who provide a Maryland address at the time of vaccination and have received the COVID-19 vaccine in Maryland, not at a federal facility, are automatically entered into the promotion, MHEC said.
Students remain part of the program, MHEC said, once they are entered and remain part of the drawings unless they win.
A pair of winners are announced each week, including two students from Harford and Prince George’s counties, and on Labor Day the four final winners will be chosen, the governor’s office announced in the release.
The CDC is reporting that 67% of individuals in the age range in Maryland have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, which is the third-highest rate in the country.
The VaxU initiative comes on the heels of the $2 Million VaxCash Program, which the governor’s office said helped Maryland get 70% of adults vaccinated by Memorial Day and 75% by Independence Day.
The program is utilizing federal COVID-19 relief funds to cover costs.
This article was originally posted on Maryland VaxU scholarship program enters final week