DENVER — The guidelines for the Colorado Comeback Cash program are pretty straightforward: get vaccinated and possibly win $1,000,000.
“All you have to do to enter is get vaccinated," Gov. Jared Polis said on Tuesday. "Everyone who has already been vaccinated can be a part of this drawing, already is a part of this drawing."
But reality is a bit more complicated. Several vaccinated Coloradans have reached out to Denver7 concerned their immunizations were not registered with the state.
The Colorado Immunization Information System tracks all immunizations for Coloradans, and it is the system that the state will use to draw names for the million-dollar jackpots.
"I traced down the link to look at my record, and I can't find it," said Charlie Summers, a veteran who was vaccinated at Colorado's VA hospital.
He was vaccinated in February and has his vaccination card, but the state records show no indication he received both his Pfizer shots.
"I'm sure I'm probably won't win, but I'd like the chance," Summers said. "I'll be disappointed if I'm not included."
A spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Health and Environment tells Denver7 in a statement that "individuals should check to make sure they are entering the information into the portal exactly as the provider would have entered it. They should then contact their provider to ensure their information was reported to CIIS."
CDPHE also says that "individuals’ information must be recorded in CIIS in order to be eligible for the drawing."
However, Denver7 was contacted by several individuals who used different health providers who all say they cannot find documentation of their COVID-19 vaccine on the CIIS website.
In the state-released instructions for accessing the vaccination records, officials indicate that vaccination records on their website "may not be complete" and the records only include what was reported to CIIS.
You can access your immunization records here to see if your COVID-19 vaccinations show up. The portal requires your name and date of birth, and it will text or email you a code to access your records.
"I think a lot of people that are expecting to be entered into the drawing that are not," said Chris Graves, another vaccine recipient that went unregistered on the state site. "That's unfair."
Graves was vaccinated at a UCHealth pop-up site for restaurant workers. He said many of his colleagues are likely unaware they must verify their vaccination registration with the state site to be eligible.
Denver7 reached out to UCHealth. A spokesperson provided the following statement:
"UCHealth sends vaccine data for every person and every dose administered, and we have confirmed that UCHealth sent the appropriate vaccine administration data to the state vaccine system. We’d be happy to work with the state and other health systems to help reconcile what the state has in their system."
The drawings are set to be held June 2, 9, 16, 23 and July 9. The winners will be announced on Fridays of those weeks. Colorado Lottery officials will assign a random number to each person in the database and draw a number on those dates.
