Incentives in the form of projects and programs will be given by the provincial government of Negros Occidental to barangays with effective COVID vaccination program.
Provincial Administrator, Atty. Rayfrando Diaz, said this is one way to encourage barangay officials to do their share in improving the vaccination output of their local government units by convincing more residents to get vaccinated.
Diaz said the province has enough supply of vaccines but there are still LGUs with low daily vaccination output.
“With enough supply of vaccines, the province needs to improve or generate a higher demand for vaccines,” he said, adding that the barangays can help and be responsible in bringing up the vaccination output.
The province will publish the barangay output, in terms of actual vaccinated persons based on the targets, Diaz said.
Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer, and provincial consultant Alfredo Benitez are thinking of incentives that will be provided to performing barangays, he added.
The province has also started disseminating vaccination campaign materials. Lacson released an audio-video infomercial, dubbed “Magpabakuna para Abanse ka”, while Benitez gave copies of the video clip to Manila-based talents for plugging.
The media campaign will help spread awareness among Negrenses and will also inspire others to get vaccinated, Diaz said, adding that the recent downtrend of COVID cases could be because of those who got the shots early.
Today, the Provincial Health Office will help the vaccination team of Himamaylan City, and about a thousand residents are expected to be inoculated in one day.
The province has vaccinated more than 400,000 residents, or about 25 percent of the more than 1.4 million Negrenses targeted for inoculation. – MML
