All boosted Maryland residents are eligible to win thousands of dollars in a new vaccine lottery announced by Gov. Larry Hogan on Tuesday.

In an attempt to incentivize more Marylanders to get a COVID-19 booster shot, the state will be awarding a total of $2 million to randomly selected winners each week, over the next 12 weeks. The first winner, who will be announced next Tuesday, will receive $500,000, and each one after that will receive $50,000. In May, the final winner will win $1 million. All Maryland residents ages 18 and older who have already received a booster vaccine in the state are automatically eligible to win.

“Our goal with this promotion is to reach those people who didn’t realize the importance of getting boosted, or who were on the fence, or those who just haven’t gotten around to it yet,” Hogan said during a press conference on Tuesday. “It is clear that getting fully protected with a booster is the single most important thing you can do right now to minimize the impact of COVID-19 and its variants and to help us all finally move on from this pandemic.”

Just over half of the state’s adult population has received a booster, Hogan said, and 72% of residents 65 and older are boosted.  According to Maryland’s health department, the state has administered nearly 4.4 million second shots, but only 2.1 million booster doses. The governor underscored the importance of third shots, since vaccine efficacy wanes over time. He referenced statistics that show that un-boosted individuals are 2 times more likely to test positive, three times more like to be hospitalized, and three times more likely to die from COVID than those with a booster shot.

“No one should consider themselves fully protected unless you’ve got a booster shot,” Hogan said.

The lottery program, dubbed VaxCash2.0, is a sequel to Hogan’s earlier vaccine lottery program, launched back in the summer amid a wave of giveaways and big-ticket vaccine incentives rolled out by leaders nationwide. Whether lottery incentives actually work to move the needle on immunizations (pun intended) remains unclear; studies haven’t been able to link such programs with an increase in vaccination rates.

VaxCash 2.0 comes as a part of Hogan’s “Booster Action Plan,” which includes texting and calling all eligible Maryland residents encouraging them to set up a booster appointment, and offering booster doses at state-run hospital testing sites. The plan will also expand the scope of Vaccine Equity Task Force, which works with local health departments to bring booster clinics to underserved areas.

Since the omicron surge in late December and January, coronavirus cases in the state have plummeted.  On Wednesday, the state reported an average daily case rate of 1,241, down significantly from the peak of more than 16,000 in early January.