Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens says the WeVax To Win website has seen over 18,000 local residents submit their names and information for the first prize draw coming up in October.
Speaking on AM800's Morning Drive, Dilkens explained that the incentives are designed to drive an increase in vaccinations and anyone who has received both doses can sign up online for a chance to win over $200,000 worth of prizes.
"We hope that this will make a positive impact trying to get those who are sort of sitting on the fence to look at the information regarding vaccinations and get them over the hump to get a vaccine and possibly win a great prize."
Dilkens says time is running out to be eligible for the first draw, and he's encouraging residents to get vaccinated.
New minivans built in Windsor, free tuition at either St. Clair College or the University of Windsor, and new Playstations are among the prizes available.
Dilkens also says they'll pay one household's property tax up to $10,000 or a person's rent up to $10,000 in 2022 as part of the initiative.
"At the end of the day we want to be on the side of saying we did everything we can to try and get our community to get a good position," he continued. "I think we can all agree that we want to move forward, we want to get past dismissals of classes in schools and online learning and all of the trials and tribulations we've gone through over the last 18 months. We all want to get past this as soon as we can."
Dilkens says if this is the incentive that helps get even 5% of those who are sitting out there waiting to get vaccinated or those who are hesitant, it will have been a worthy endeavour.
"If it gets them to look at the data to believe that vaccines are safe then certainly we've done our job and we can all put our head on the pillow at night saying we've done everything we could to try and move this community forward," he said.
The first We Vax draw is scheduled for October 1, and subsequent draws will follow weekly.