VA vaccine recipients are now eligible for Colorado’s $1 million lottery
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Gov. Jared Polis' Office contacted 13 Investigates on Friday saying anyone vaccinated through Veterans Affairs is now eligible to win the $1 million prize in the Colorado Cashback Cash sweepstakes.
"We have worked closely with the Veteran's Administration to find a solution with their eligibility in the upcoming $1 million drawings, and we are pleased to announce that individuals vaccinated through the VA will be eligible. Discussions with the Department of Defense are ongoing, and we are confident we will have more positive news to report soon. We will provide more details when they become available," said a representative from GovPolis' office in a statement to 13 Investigates.
BREAKING: @GovofCO office tells 13 Investigates vaccine recipients through the VA are now eligible for Colorado’s vaccine lottery and $1 million, still working on the vaccine recipients with the DOD. @KRDONC13
— Dan Beedie KRDO (@BeedieonTV) May 29, 2021
Earlier this week, Gov. Jared Polis said anyone who's received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose would be 'automatically entered' for the state's five drawings for $1 million. The state is using immunization data authorized by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to choose the winners. We provided information on how to check eligibility earlier Thursday at this link.
13 Investigates learned more than 46,000 El Paso County residents are currently ineligible to win a million dollars despite getting the vaccine. We learned from the CDPHE that the issue stems from how the data is reported to the state.
"Large federal entities-- like the VA, like DOD, and like Bureau of Prisons --do not report patient-level data to our system," said Heather Roth with CDPHE.
Gov. Polis previously said residents will need to be in the immunization database by June 1 to be eligible. The first drawings for the Colorado Comeback Cash sweepstakes is scheduled for June 4th.
