COLUMBUS, Ohio (WJW) – Governor Mike DeWine will hold a news conference with Ohio’s newest Vax-a-Million winners.
Mark Cline of Richwood was announced as the $1 million winner.
Cline retired in 2016 with Marathon Petroleum.
“It was pretty surreal from the moment we looked out and saw you on our doorstep,” Cline said in a video conference with the governor.
He got vaccinated at the Union County Fairgrounds.
“It’s been really exciting,” he shared.
“More importantly it’s about getting the vaccine. I hope everyone makes the decision to get it,” Cline said.
Gov. DeWine asked how Cline’s wife was taking the good news.
“She’s doing okay even though I told her that the million was mine because she didn’t register,” Cline joked.
He says his wife didn’t register because she didn’t want to be a part of the press conferences.
“My money is her money,” Cline continued.
The person who won the college scholarship is from Northeast Ohio.
Sara Afaneh is a 7th grader at Brookside Middle School in Sheffield Lake.
The 13-year-old spoke with the media Thursday.
Her mom, Summer, said she thought she was more excited than Sara.
Sara is one of four children.
“I thought about going but I’ve never really looked at colleges a lot,” Sara said.
“We feel so blessed and lucky that we won but we feel so lucky that we were able to access the vaccine,” Summer shared.
They were vaccinated at Fairview Hospital.
Summer is also a nurse, so she said once some of her kids were able to get vaccinated, “it was a no brainer.”
There are two drawings left: June 14 and June 21.
The governor shared that about 140,000 total people had started the vaccination process since the last drawing.
The winners will be announced on the following Wednesdays.
Ohio’s vaccine lottery is an opt-in program. You can register online or by calling 1-833-4-ODH.
