"It's just a slap in the face to any veteran."
By Kate Northrop
Illinois is making headlines after it was revealed that thousands of veterans won't be eligible to enter the "All In For The Win" incentive lottery for a shot at the millions of dollars being awarded to vaccinated individuals.
Ever since Ohio announced its Vax-a-Million lottery to encourage residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19, states have been coming out with their own lotteries left and right. However, the lottery incentive announced by Governor JB Pritzker on Thursday prevents many Illinois veterans from being eligible to enter, despite them receiving a vaccine.
The Department of Veterans Affairs reports that over 75,000 vets in Illinois were vaccinated at a VA facility. Any of these residents, including those who received their shot at a military base, currently have no chance at winning a million dollars in the state's vaccine lottery.
Steven Holt, who received his vaccine at the Aurora VA Clinic earlier this year, told CBS Chicago that he was upset that not a single veteran who got a vaccine at the clinic would be eligible to enter the lottery in Illinois.
"Korea veterans, Vietnam veterans, Desert Storm — the whole gamut," he said in an interview. "It's just a slap in the face to any veteran."
Representative Stephanie Kifowit, herself a veteran, pointed out the irony in how veterans were prioritized when vaccines were initially rolled out, only to be snubbed later.
"One of the things they were always so proud of is how quickly the VA got vaccinations out for the veterans, within a matter of weeks," Kifowit remarked.
Vets are unable to enter the vaccine lottery because the federal government is its own entity and only shares the number of people vaccinated through Veterans Affairs facilities, not specific names. That means that anyone who gets a COVID-19 vaccine through a VA facility cannot have their names submitted for the incentive lottery.
Active military members don't even have a say as to where they receive the vaccine and, by extension, are excluded from the lottery as well.
"They actually cannot get a vaccine off of base," Kifowit explained. "It has to be part of their active medical record."
The lottery will award $10 million total — $7 million in cash prizes for vaccinated adults 18 years of age and older and $3 million in scholarship awards for children ages 12 to 17. The Illinois Lottery will conduct the drawings, the first one to take place on July 8. Residents must receive a dose by July 1 in order to be eligible for prizes in the first drawing.
Illinoisans who receive a vaccine are automatically entered into lottery because they are required to submit their names to the medical professionals who administer them.
Washington state created its own workaround for the problem and announced a separate federally funded lottery for military members and veterans. While a similar solution has yet to be announced for Illinois, Kifowit told CBS Chicago that Governor Pritzker's office reassured her that something was in the works before the first drawing on July 8.
Holt said that he is hopeful that something will be done for Illinois' veterans, who would greatly benefit from such a lifechanging prize.
"Somehow, they have to figure out how the veterans can be included," Holt continued. "This would be a really good shot in the arm for them if they were to be one of the lucky ones to win."
Suck azz rules if there ever was one. This Army retiree feels for his fellow comrades in arms.
On the bright side glad that over 75K Veterans their received the Covid vaccination. Not too many stupid antivaxxers it appears.
If the state of Washington can come up with a way to get their Veterans into the lottery, there is no reason the state of Illinois and the VA cannot work out a way to be fair to the men and women who were getting shot at while we were home in out comfortable beds. Pass a bill, get it done. Right now everyone who made these rules look stupid.
Vets are unable to enter the vaccine lottery because the federal government is its own entity and only shares the number of people vaccinated through Veterans Affairs facilities, not specific names.
Because veterans' names are not automatically entered into the contest by the VA, Illinois will probably set up a web site so they can manually enter.
"It's just a slap in the face to any veteran."
Veterans getting vaccinated by their doctor or at a pharmacy will have their names entered. The problem here is when the contest was set up, they didn't know the VA doesn't share IDs of the people vaccinated at their facility.
With over 600,000 Corona virus related deaths, if people are getting vaccinated just for a tiny chance of winning $1 million, something is wrong with that picture.
Well what do you expect from a brain dead red state that is anti-military and whose god said a cemetery full of fallen solders was a bunch of losers and told a veterans widow her late husband knew what he was getting into..
Illinois has small pockets of Alabama here and there, but as a whole it's is a reliably blue state. The problem with getting veterans entered in their vaccine lottery is that the federal government won't release the private medical records of soldiers who were vaccinated in a setting that's governed by HIPAA rules.
Does this mean that all people aged 18+ who have received a COVID-19 Vaccine sometime this year, at a pharmacy, have already been entered in this Illinois vaccine Lottery?
Vaccines per se are not covered by HIPAA regulations from what this former healthcare worker was told. Now if someone were to release private medical information, then that is a HIPAA violation, punishable by a $250K fine/10 years in the Federal prison system. My employer didn't do this to employees though, they were fired. One case that cost lots of jobs was this patient we had. Family killed by a tornado and I won't disclose about the child, BUT folks in our hospital and Sister hospitals were nosy enough to go into the computer to look up results. Electronic records told on them and all fired. I realize the VA is a different animal though and have yet to use the VA for this Army retiree.
Back to vaccines, if someone were receiving biotech style therapies which some are vaccines/IV therapy for certain conditions and that information was released, then yes, that is a HIPAA violation.
"In accordance with section 5701 of title 38 United States Code (U.S.C.), records and files maintained by VA on veterans and beneficiaries, including medical records, are generally confidential, and VA may not disclose or release these materials except as provided by law."
Maryland adopted a similar rule for vets
"Vaccines per se are not covered by HIPAA regulations from what this former healthcare worker was told."
All sorts of things aren't protected depending in who the information is being provided to. If you get treated for a dog bite the local health department will be notified in most places. Same thing if you get treated for an STI. Similarly, reporting vaccination information to public health agencies is the only reason we know how many people were vaccinated. OTOH, all of those things are protected health information that's subject to HIPAA rules, so who the information can be disclosed to is very limited.I don't know about other possible prohibitions, but HIPAA doesn't prohibit the VA from disclosing information to Illinois' health department, but whatever state agency is administering the vaccine lottery presumably isn't a publ;ic health agency.
That said, HIPAA rules generally apply only to entities working in the health care field. The state can ask if people are vaccinated, and require proof, in order to enter people in the vaccine lottery. Similarly, it's legal to ask clueless congress critters if they've been vaccinated, just like it would be legal to ask them about any STIs if your, um, lobbying efforts were going well.
I can't believe everyone is drinking the kool aid. First, it's not a vaccine, it's a poison. do the research. The fda website says pfizer and these other criminal companies aren't authorized to do so. It's a poison going into everyone's body. I am against any medical company to put crap in my body.
can't believe everyone believes the lies of our govt.
It's not a vaccine, it's a psyop mission to wipe out 15% of the population.
Put off the lottery for a moment. I honestly can't believe people believe what they hear about the news says. the numbers are misleading. It's not a vaccine it's a poison.
This so called "vaccine" was tested on animals shorttime on effects and no one knows the long term affects of this poison that most of you are accepting in your bodies.
anti millitary or not, the person is correct. I already know 3 people that died taking the ding.