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DOH OK with LGUs offering incentives for COVID-19 vaccination, planning to do the same


The Department of Health (DOH) on Friday said it was looking into possible incentives for COVID-19 vaccination to encourage more Filipinos to roll up their sleeves and get inoculated.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the DOH “does not see anything wrong” with local governments’ incentives for inoculation.

In Las Piñas, vaccinated individuals will get a chance to win a house and lot as well as groceries and motorcycles.

In Pampanga, cows are being raffled out to residents who have gotten a COVID-19 jab.

“Actually, nag-iisip na rin ang DOH ng additional na incentives para mas makahikayat tayo ng mas maraming tao para magpabakuna (Actually, the DOH is also thinking of additional incentives to encourage vaccination),” Vergeire said in an online briefing.

“‘Pag nagsabi tayo ng incentives, hindi lang po ito ‘yung mga materyal na insentibo katulad ng nagbibigay po tayo ng pagkain o ‘di kaya ay nagbibigay tayo ng mga papremyo (When we say incentives, we don’t just mean material things like food or prizes),” she added.

Vergeire said the government will release guidelines and more information once the details have been finalized.

‘Low-hanging fruit’

The DOH has also been intensifying its education campaign to address vaccine hesitancy among Filipinos.

A recent Social Weather Stations poll showed that 35% of Filipinos are still unsure about getting a COVID-19 vaccine, higher than the percentage of the population willing to get inoculated.

Some of the reasons behind the hesitancy were concerns about the safety of vaccines and fear of COVID-19 infection.

“By looking at that, that is an opportunity for government to intervene,” Vergeire said.

“‘Yung mga uncertain or unsure, low-hanging fruit ‘yan kapag pinag-usapan ang (Those uncertain or unsure about vaccination are low-hanging fruits when it comes to) convincing or persuasion for people.”

She stressed that all COVID-19 vaccines that have been rolled out in the Philippines are safe and effective, with less than 1% of recipients reporting serious side effects, none of which have been found to be directly caused by the jab.

Over 3.4 million individuals have been vaccinated as of May 25, still far from the government’s target of inoculating 58 million people in COVID-19 hotspots by November.—AOL, GMA News

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