MANILA, Philippines — Incentives such as donuts or coffee should be given to convince more people to be inoculated against COVID-19 said Senator Richard Gordon on Monday.
“There is hesitation, that’s why I’m saying bigyan natin ng donut…Provide incentives to get vaccinated. One donut if you get a vaccination,” Gordon said during a media forum organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP).
Gordon, who is also a chairman of the Philippine Red Cross, said they already talked with two famous donut and coffee brands about the incentive.
“Those two already agreed,” he added but did not disclose any further details.
More vaccinators
Gordon likewise proposed the training of high school and college graduates, who can be tapped to augment the number of vaccinators in the country.
“Medics in the Armed Forces [of the Philippines] can be trained in one week—why not high school and college graduates, with the supervision of medical personnel?” he said.
“If we vaccinate 240,000 Filipinos per day, it will take one and a half years to vaccinate 70 million people. Right now, we are only doing 60,000 people a day,” he pointed out.
“We have to make sure that we have the manpower who can administer the shots,” he added.
The senator also reiterated his call for the streamlining of vaccination process, which includes removing blood pressure taking and the online completion of the pre-screening questionnaire to avoid overcrowding in vaccination centers.
Some 35 percent of the country’s estimated 110 million population may be inoculated against COVID-19 by August, according to Malacañang.
As of May 15, over 2.9 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered under the government’s inoculation program. With 2.2 million individuals have received their first dose while more than 700,000 have completed both their first and second dose of the vaccine.
Source: Inquirer