Albay Rep. Joey Salceda said a vaccination incentive, such as a vaccination allowance, and better registration procedures might be better than a raffle to encourage more Filipinos to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
The Department of Health (DOH) earlier said it would launch a raffle for those to be vaccinated and dangled cash prizes to raffle winners to entice more people to get vaccinated.
“The problem is not the lack of some probability of winning a big prize. The problem is for many… they have to skip a workday just to get jabbed. For the average wage worker, that will cost them the day’s pay,” Salceda said.
Salceda said he already “proposed that we give a day’s worth of minimum wage as a vaccine incentive. There are places where that’s being done already, like Davao City. The point is, you compensate for the trouble. Even with a raffle, for many working-class Filipinos, foregoing a day’s wages is too much.”
Further, Salceda also cited a disparity in vaccine allocation as a “key dampener of jabbing rate,” adding that Bicol’s vaccine supply is low.
“Region-wide, we are just at 10 percent of the population vaccinated. That’s among the lowest in the country. We need help,” he said.
Salceda said “our COVID-19 response in the 2nd district of Albay has been hailed by the DOH and other groups as a model to follow. But it could go wrong with the lack of vaccines.”
“Look at the example of Vietnam. They were among the best in the world for minimum health standards and non-pharmaceutical interventions. They are now facing among the world’s worst surges because of a lack of vaccines, not because of neglect on the part of their government,” he noted.
He urged the government to get more vaccines for regions that have yet to be vaccinated or saturated.
The DOH meanwhile has offered cash prizes of up to P1 million for CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) residents in its “Resbakuna: Bakunado, Panalo” promo.
“This is to encourage everyone to enlist and have their COVID-19 vaccine for them to have additional protection against the virus,” DOH-CALABARZON Regional Director Eduardo C. Janairo said.
The “Resbakuna: Bakunado, Panalo” promo of the DOH will be selecting 50 winners for October and 50 winners for November who will receive P5,000 in cash.
For December, 12 winners will be selected, with 10 winners to receive the third prize of P100,000, one winner for the second prize of P500,00, and a grand prize winner who will get P1 million.
Individuals who were partially vaccinated will get one raffle coupon while those who are fully vaccinated will get three.
Senior citizens who got their jabs are entitled to double the number of entries which means that partially vaccinated seniors will get two raffle entries while fully vaccinated seniors will receive six.
The promo is sponsored by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation in partnership with the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation and the DOH.
Those who want to join the promo step can text RESBAKUNAREG name/age/address and send to 8933.
For step two, text RESBAKUNA 1st letter of vaccine brand/number of doses/local government unit/date of vaccination and send to 8933.
And then wait for the winning text of chosen as a winner. For more details and inquiries about the promo, please visit doh.gov.ph/vaccines./. With Macon Ramos-Araneta