P15,000 cash aid for fully vaccinated families pushed

FILE PHOTO: A health worker prepares a dose of the BioNTech Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination for seafarers at a stadium in Manila on July 15, 2021. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP)

MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker is pushing to provide fully vaccinated families P15,000 in a bid to encourage more individuals to get inoculated against COVID-19.

Under House Bill No. 10644 filed by Quezon City 5th District Rep. Alfred Vargas, fully vaccinated families shall receive P15,000 from the national government.

The program, which will be called “Ayuda sa Bakuna”, will fall under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

“This measure not only alleviates the sufferings of our fellow Filipinos in this two-year global pandemic, it also helps solve the problem by encouraging science-backed vaccination and accelerating our achievement of herd immunity,” Vargas said in a statement.

Vargas said while the program will prioritize the “poorest of the poor and the most vulnerable sectors of our communities” all compliant families will still be covered by the program.

“The program will, however, cover all eligible Filipino families, as long as living and qualified members have complied with the government’s prescribed vaccination program,” he added.

In the bill’s explanatory note, Vargas stated that stronger social safety nets must be put in place to support multiple marginalized sectors and protect them from poverty.

“Vaccines save lives. Our nation’s strong vaccination drive has already shown that,” Vargas said.

“Our Ayuda sa Bakuna program reflects the Filipino people’s values of bayanihan and damayan: to defeat COVID-19 and take back our normal lives from this virus, we need to help each other. We need to make sure that no one gets left behind,” he added.

JPV