Balamban Mayor Alex Binghay meets with ‘chapter leaders’ in the town’s barangays about their plans to provide cash incentives to senior citizens who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. | Photo courtesy of Alagad sa Balamban (Balamban LGU)
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The local government of Balamban has dangled cash incentives to entice senior citizens in their town to complete their COVID-19 inoculation schedule.
The municipality announced on social media that they will be raffling cash prizes between P3,000 to P100,000 to elderlies who are fully vaccinated against the infection.
A ‘minor raffle draw’ will be held by mid-November, the advisory read, wherein fully inoculated senior citizens can win P3,000, P5,000, and P10,000 in cash.
The ‘major raffle draw’ will be in December, and winners stand a chance to win between P30,000 to P100,000.
“Ang tumong niini nga raffle mao ang pag-ingangyo usab sa ubang senior citizens sa atong lungsod nga magpabakuna na gayud,” the advisory added.
The locality also reported that they will be deploying personnel from their Rural Health Center to vaccinate senior citizens who are residing in the town’s far-flung areas.
“Busa, hangyo ni Mayor Alex (Binghay) nga matabangan ang lokal nga pangagamhanan nga mas makombinsir ang atong mga katigulangan sa pagpabakuna batok COVID-19,” the advisory said.
Balamban, a 1st-class municipality that borders Cebu City in the west, has a population of approximately 95,100.
COVID-19 vaccination turnout among senior citizens in Central Visayas, where Balamban belongs, remains low.
Based on the latest data from the Visayas Vaccination Operations Center (VVOC), only 38.6 percent of seniors eligible to receive free COVID vaccines from the national government have completed their inoculation schedules.
This means that out of the 595,649 seniors identified and qualified to get the shots, only 230,000 were fully vaccinated.
Health officials have yet to vaccinate 415,394 senior citizens for the 1st dose of the vaccine.
/bmjo
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