Premier Jason Kenney talked about a lottery last week to encourage more Albertans to get their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine so the province could climb past the 70 percent threshold to remove all public health restrictions this summer.  

Yesterday (June 12) the Premier came through when he announced a multi-million dollar lottery will begin in Alberta.

Kenney said more details on the "Open for Summer Vaccine Lottery" would come in the days ahead but did reveal some information in a video posted on his Twitter account. 

The video was taken at an immunization centre in Edmonton which, the Premier explained, was empty on a Saturday afternoon.  He said Alberta is not getting enough demand for first doses of the vaccine, which is why the lottery is going ahead.

It will offer three prizes of $1 million dollars each along with other prizes as yet unspecified.  Kenney said the first installment of the lottery will be open to Albertans, 18 or older, who get at least their first dose within a week of the day the provinces reaches 70 percent of first doses given. 

The first grand prize draw will happen the day we enter Stage Three of the Open for Summer Plan. 

As of Friday Alberta had issued first dose vaccinations to nearly 69 percent of people 12 and over.

When COVID-19 numbers were reported yesterday, Alberta had 179 new cases of the virus.  The active case count fell to 3,247, a drop of 282 from Friday.

290 people are in hospitals, six fewer than Friday, and 74 were being treated in ICUs, five less than the Friday total.

Unfortunately, another four deaths were also reported bringing the total since the start of the pandemic in Alberta to 2,269.

The provincial positivity rate was just 3.3 percent with 5,476 tests completed. 

Active cases in Airdrie and Rocky View County fell dramatically from Friday.  Just 47 Airdronians still have COVID-19, down from 56 on Friday while the RVC number is even lower with only 20 active cases, down ten from the number on Friday.   

Here is Premier Kenney's announcement regarding the "Open for Summer Vaccine Lottery."