Guv mulls incentives to promote COVID inoculation

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. said Monday that the provincial government was considering incentives for barangays that promote inoculation against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to address vaccine hesitancy in the province.

This was in response to Senator Franklin Drilon’s interview with DZBB on Sunday where he proposed to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to give incentives or rewards to barangays which can convince residents to get the vaccines.

“Instead of whipping people who don’t follow curfew, we can use the barangays to intensify vaccination. The DILG should offer rewards to barangays if many of their residents get vaccinated,” Drilon said.

In a phone interview, Defensor told Daily Guardian that he agreed with Drilon’s proposal, and that they were also thinking of the idea, but cannot announce exactly when due to budget concerns.

Defensor added that it would be better if the national government also provides budget to fund the incentive strategy.

“I agree with that, to incentivize, and we are thinking of that, actually. We just haven’t made any announcements, but we are trying to prepare for that. Senator Drilon’s proposal is good, but it would be better if there were also counterpart initiatives on the budget side,” he added.

Defensor said the province’s vaccination was “on-track”, as they are still expecting the AZD1222 vaccines the Capitol procured from AstraZeneca. The doses are set to arrive in the 3rd quarter of this year.

Letters of intent for other drugmakers were also being drafted to beef up the province’s vaccine stockpile.

“We have been advised by the national government not to buy vaccines as of the moment, because they said they would buy that for us, but we are continuing to prepare if there would be sales of [COVID-19] vaccine for us allowed,” Defensor said.

Data from the Department of Health-Western Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH-WV CHD) as of June 13 indicated that Iloilo province has vaccinated 73,870 individuals under vaccine priority group A with at least the first dose while 21,750 already got their second dose.