DAVAO CITY – The City Government of Davao intends to give incentives for people to get the COVID-19 vaccine as a strategy to increase the city’s vaccination drive.
In her interview last Monday over Davao City Disaster Radio, Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said they are planning to pilot this incentives in two of the city’s vaccination sites to see if this can encourage more people to get vaccinated. They are considering incentives such as gift checks for groceries that will be given for people who have taken the first dose.
“We’ll try that in some of our vaccination centers, and then we’ll see kung daghan ba tao moadto sa (if more people will go to) vaccination centers,” the mayor said.
Duterte- Carpio said it is “understandable” that the city government resorts to this strategy as they have observed people prioritize working to provide the daily needs for their family rather than spending hours to wait in line in vaccination centers.
The city government has already administered first dose of COVID vaccine to 716,793 individuals; while 583,002 already received their second dose based on its reports released on September 25.
The Davao City Government is targeting 1.2 million residents to be vaccinated to achieve “herd immunity” by December.
Other strategies they have adapted include “Bakuna Nights” which was piloted last week and is among the top strategies of the city to fast track the vaccination by extending vaccination rollout at night time for employees who come after work.
The COVID-19 Task Force also identified which barangays in the city have low vaccination turnout and is conducting mobile vaccination drives to make the vaccination more accessible for them.
