Southern Health-Santé Sud Health Authority Winner of the Vax to Win Lottery
To celebrate winning, my fiancé and I went out for dinner at a steakhouse. We ordered a bottle of wine, which can be pricey at a restaurant, but we figured why not—it’s the Portage la Prairie style of going all out!
I had a first shot of AstraZeneca at a Shopper’s Drug Mart pharmacy in Portage la Prairie in April. My second shot was Moderna at a pop-up clinic at the Herman Prior Activity Centre. I felt just fine after both shots.
Getting vaccinated was important to me because the alternative, getting COVID-19, was really frightening. I wanted to protect myself, my family, and my community. I’m retired, an introvert and a homebody, so I was okay to stay home at first, but I’ve missed seeing friends and family members. Thanksgiving and Christmas were hard last year—it was just my fiancé and me, when normally we would go to multiple get-togethers.
Our plans for the winnings are not terribly exciting. We’ll pay bills and think about home improvements, like renovating a bathroom that looks like it’s from the 1950s. Maybe we’ll pay off our car.
I wasn’t even thinking about the vaccination lottery when I got vaccinated. I do buy lottery tickets sometimes. Ten years ago I won $143 and I still remember how happy I felt. I haven’t ever won anything like this so it was a huge surprise.