“I think it’s really important for everybody to get vaccinated. I felt just great knowing that I did this one small thing that could help everybody, and I got a little something out of it,” she laughed. “So I think it’s important for everybody to get vaccinated–prize or not.”
WILMINGTON (DE) BY GEORGE SHEA: Sophie Poindexter is a 23-Year-Old University of Delaware graduate and she was selected as the grand prize winner of the $302 thousand DE Wins! lotto raffle.
The announcement came Monday morning July 19, 2021, at Bardea Food & Drink on the Market Street Mall in Wilmington. Governor John Carney presented her with her jumbo check.
Sophie says she got vaccinated about two months ago when restaurant workers were being vaccinated. She said she traveled from the University of Delaware to Dover to get her first shot and knew nothing about the incentive. That was until Dr. Karyl Rattay, the director of the Delaware Division of Public Health called her.
“I will tell you that I’ve been calling most of the winners from the beginning, and when I talk to people, I think their first reaction is–this is a scam. So when I called her, I told her who I am, and I first tried to convince her that this isn’t a scam, that this is for real,” Rattay laughed. “Then I told her she should probably sit down because I had some life-changing news for her…telling someone that they have won $302,000 is a once-in-a-life-time thing for me.”
During her final year of college, Poindexter lived at home, which she said, further fueled her desire to become vaccinated.
“I just wanted to stay safe for my parents…everybody was so nice, very clear. I wasn’t really nervous or anything, and the second I did it, it just felt amazing because I felt like I could start living a little bit again without worrying about myself and everybody else.”
The Delta variant has been spreading across the country in recent days and Dr. Rattay stressed the importance of getting vaccinated.
“We do have a little less than 50% of the total population that’s fully vaccinated, and now that we are seeing the Delta variant as our predominant strain in Delaware as of the last week–a much more contagious variant–it is critical to us that we continue to get even more and more Delawareans vaccinated. We do not want to go backwards.”
Sophie says she had no side effects other than soreness on her arm but overall it was worth it.
“I think it’s really important for everybody to get vaccinated. I felt just great knowing that I did this one small thing that could help everybody, and I got a little something out of it,” she laughed. “So I think it’s important for everybody to get vaccinated–prize or not.”
