Senior citizens in Catbalogan City, Samar will receive cash incentives from the local government for voluntarily submitting themselves to Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) vaccination.

Catbalogan City Mayor Dexter Uy has issued a memorandum informing all village officials on the implementation of “Ayuda para sa Bakuna” vaccination drive for the first 500 elderlies who will get Covid-19 vaccines.

“Our Covid-19 vaccination drive has covered 71.8 percent of the overall population. To attain the alert level 1 status, we need to ramp up our vaccination drive among senior citizens. Currently, only 65 percent of our seniors are fully vaccinated,” Uy said in a phone interview on Thursday.

Achieving 70 percent inoculation on the total population of elderlies is one of the requirements set by the national inter-agency task force (IATF) to downgrade the local government status to Alert Level 1 from Alert Level 2.

Senior citizens are among the vulnerable sectors identified by the government to be prioritized in the administration of Covid-19 vaccines.

Under the city government’s memorandum, a senior citizen who will receive the first jab is entitled to a PHP500 incentive. Those who will receive their second dose will get PHP1,000.

The incentive is intended for seniors who will get jabs from July 1 to August 5, 2022. The city official has no available data when asked on how many seniors availed of the incentive since the first day.

City health office chief Raphael Adrian Tabajonda observed that despite a massive information drive, some senior citizens are still reluctant to get Covid-19 vaccines.

“In the past, we even provided grocery packs for seniors to encourage them to get Covid-19 jabs, but only a few availed (of them). This cash incentive is our last hope to persuade them,” Tabajonda said in a phone interview.

Inoculation of senior citizens is set every Tuesday and Thursday at the city health office. Health workers will also be visiting villages to conduct mobile vaccination. (PNA)