The city government here is sustaining its initiative of giving free food packs to all qualified residents who would avail of the coronavirus disease 2029 (Covid-19) walk-in vaccination.

Mayor Joseph Evangelista said Friday the program is to encourage more locals to get vaccinated for free by offering them free food packages as well.

“We are currently thinking of other sorts of incentive for our locals to push them, particularly those with hesitancy, to get themselves vaccinated,” he said.

Evangelista said the free food packs also serve as a “compliment” to residents who responded and submitted themselves to get vaccinated in support of the government’s call for population protection against Covid-19.

Each food pack contains two kilos of commercial rice and a dressed chicken to be given right after the completion of the vaccination process.

Evangelista said the number of jabs they can offer to walk-in vaccinees here depends on the number of doses being delivered by the Department of Health – Region 12, or vaccines that have not been used in neighboring towns.

The number of vaccines per walk-in inoculation here runs from 2,000-5,000 doses daily in the city’s seven vaccination hubs.

“We never refused any vaccines being turned over or referred to the city to speed up our target projection the soonest as possible,” the mayor said.

Vaccine census

Meanwhile, the business sector here has given its support to the proposed “vaccination census” of the city government in partnership with all local establishment owners during a consultation meeting on Thursday.

Evangelista said the strategy aims to assess the number of vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals who are making daily transactions in public markets, groceries, and other essential businesses operating in the city.

Under the scheme, each establishment will verbally ask the entering individual if he has already been vaccinated or not.

“Through this, we can measure how many locals are still unvaccinated that are engaged in essential activities,” Evangelista said, adding that a tally will then be submitted to the city government for further assessment.

Currently, out of the 110,466 targeted eligible individuals here, 38,133 have been fully vaccinated, while 58,020 who have received the first dose come from the A1 (healthcare front-liners), A2 (senior citizens), A3 (persons with comorbidities), and A4 (essential workers) categories. (PNA)