400,000 join DOH’s ‘Bakunado Panalo’

Maria Rosario Vergeire

MANILA, Philippines — Over 400,000 individuals have so far joined the raffle promotion of the Department of Health (DOH) for those vaccinated against COVID-19, in which millions in cash prizes are at stake, including P1 million that awaits the grand winner.

“As of Nov. 21, we already have 400,000 registrants to the SMS-based ‘Bakunado Panalo’ raffle,” said Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire at a virtual press briefing on Monday.

She said the validation of some 100 winners for the months of October and November is still ongoing. Each winner will receive P5,000.

The grand draw will be conducted in December where one participant will win P1 million as grand prize, another will get P500,000 as second prize, and 10 winners will get P100,000.

Vergeire said those who want to participate in the raffle promo may send their entries until Dec. 15.

According to a previous statement from the DOH, the raffle was sponsored by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. in collaboration with the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation and is open to vaccinated Filipinos.

The DOH said the initiative was a way to incentivize vaccination, increase willingness to be vaccinated, and thank Filipinos for getting themselves inoculated.

“More raffle entries are given to fully vaccinated individuals, and senior citizens receive double the amount of entries. This is to ensure that people return for their second dose and that the most vulnerable sector — the senior citizens — are vaccinated and protected,” the health department said in a statement.

The raffle is powered by Zed and major telecom companies and will run from October to December, according to the DOH.