Two Fremont youths among 30 scholarship winners in Ohio's first Vax-2-School drawing

COLUMBUS — Two of the first 30 statewide winners in Ohio's first Vax-2-School drawing are from Fremont.

Midori Ayres and Makenna Wolf of Fremont were among the winners announced Monday afternoon.

All 30 winners announced Monday will receive a $10,000 scholarship, in exchange for getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

Children and young adults between the ages of 12 and 25 who have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine were eligible to enter the contest when it opened for registration on Oct. 4.

Beginning Nov. 3, after the FDA expanded the age range authorization for the vaccine, any Ohio child age 5 to 11 was eligible to enter the contest if registered by their legal guardian.

“This age group has the most room to grow in getting vaccinated and, with the delta variant in our midst, is the group we’re most concerned will miss in-classroom opportunities if they get or are exposed to COVID-19," Gov. Mike DeWine previously said.

As of Sunday, only a quarter of Ohioans ages 19 and younger had received their first dose, per state data. The next lowest rate is for those ages 20 to 29 at 52%.

Since the governor announced the Vax-2-School prizes on Sept. 23, the vaccination rate for first doses increased from 33% to 40% for Ohioans ages 29 and younger, according to a USA Today Network Ohio Bureau review.

As of last week, there were more than 133,600 entries in the Vax-2-School contest.

The state is awarding a total of 150 scholarships worth $10,000 each and five grand prize scholarships of $100,000 each to an Ohio college or university for career or technical education.

The daily $10,000 scholarship winners will be announced at 3:30 p.m. each day through Friday via Twitter and Instagram at @ohiovax2schoool and online at ohiovax2school.com.

Entry for the daily drawings is now closed but registration for the grand prize drawing ends on Wednesday. Registration is available at ohiovax2school.com or by calling the Ohio Department of Health at 1-833-427-5634.

The Grand Prize drawing will take place on Thursday and the winners will be announced on the Ohio Lottery broadcast at approximately 7:29 p.m. on Friday.

The scholarship can be used for tuition and related expenses including room and board and payment of existing student loan debt up to $10,000 at any Ohio college, technical or trade school, or career program.

Ohio Vax-2-School is a public outreach campaign consisting of statewide drawings to increase awareness of the availability of COVID-19 vaccines, providing incentives to younger Ohioans to get vaccinated, according to the Vax-2-School website.

Titus Wu, a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: First Ohio Vax-2-School scholarship winners include 2 from Fremont