Año: 33M—a third of PH population—have registered for jabs

In San Juan City, senior citizens, health workers and adults with illnesses gather at San Juan Arena to get their first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.  —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

More than 33 million people, about a third of the country’s population, have registered with their local governments to get shots against COVID-19 as vaccine hesitancy waned, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said on Friday.

Año attributed the increasing vaccine confidence to the information and advocacy campaign of the government and private sector, in addition to the innovations and incentives offered by local officials to encourage the public to get inoculated.

“Instead of vaccine hesitancy, we would prefer vaccine envy among LGUs (local government units) and the public so that they would be more motivated to increase their vaccination efforts,” Año said in a statement.

Secretary Vince Dizon, deputy chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, said up to 11 million people had been inoculated since the national vaccination program was launched in March, with 1 million jabs administered in just four days—from Monday to Thursday—this week.

The government aims to conduct 500,000 vaccinations daily to reach its target of inoculating 50 million to 70 million Filipinos this year. At present, the country’s vaccine supply is not enough to meet the demand, Dizon said.

“Once we get more supplies, we are sure that with the help of [local governments] and the Department of Health, we would be able to administer more jabs in the coming weeks and months,” he said at Friday’s Laging Handa briefing.

More than 10 million doses are expected to be delivered this month, he added.

Local incentives

On the bright side, Dizon said many Filipinos now wanted to get inoculated, which is also why many local officials are requesting the national government for additional doses.

According to Año, local governments across the country were “innovating and seem to be outperforming each other in encouraging their constituents to get jabbed through perks and incentives.”

Las Piñas City and the town of Santa in Ilocos Sur province each offered a house and lot as a raffle prize for those who get vaccinated.

Senior citizens in Puerto Princesa City, capital of Palawan province, get P500 each for getting their jabs, while Makati City gives a P1,000 gift certificate for seniors who complete their doses.

The Quezon City government opened nighttime vaccinations for employees who cannot miss their daytime work, especially those employed with no-work-no-pay arrangements.

Some local governments have also offered drive-thru vaccinations and home inoculations for bed-ridden people. They also tapped malls to provide comfortable and accessible vaccination sites.

Año cited the private sector through the Task Force T3’s (Test, Trace and Treat) Smart Bakuna Benefits Program for the big help in scaling up the national vaccination program. INQ