Senior citizens who availed of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccination under the PinasLakas campaign are given rice in the municipality of San Remigio in Antique.

Mayor Margarito Mission Jr., in an interview Thursday, said their municipality has the lowest Covid-19 vaccination coverage in the province so they came up with the incentive, hoping they could encourage more seniors to get inoculated.

“We are giving 10 kilos of rice for our seniors who would avail of the primary and booster doses,” he said.

So far, nine senior citizens have availed of the Covid-19 vaccination at the town public market since it was launched on August 17, Mission added.

He said he was expecting more seniors to avail of the vaccination drive as they had prepared more than 2,000 bags of rice.

“I am really appealing to our seniors to avail of the vaccination and not be afraid of its after effect,” Mission said, noting that many senior citizens are afraid to be vaccinated because of the fake news on social media about the adverse effects of the Covid-19 vaccine.

The Antique Integrated Provincial Health Office has reported that as of August 2, only 843 senior citizens were fully vaccinated in San Remigio out of the 2,895 eligible targets.

Data from the Western Visayas Regional Vaccination Operations Center showed that 30,812 or 58.44 percent of the 52,725 eligible senior citizens in the province are fully vaccinated and 6,981 or 13. 24 percent are boosted as of August 9. (PNA)