STA. ROSA, Laguna – Inspired by the nationwide “Bayanihan, Bakunahan” vaccination drive, Laguna province will hold a special vaccination day this month to fast-track the local inoculation, Governor Ramil Hernandez said on Thursday.
"Pinaplano po natin [na sa] Dec. 13, kokopyahin po namin yung program ng national. Magkakaroon po kami ng (We are planning that on Dec. 13, we will copy that of the national level. We will hold a) provincial vaccination day," Hernandez said in the press conference during the Laguna stop of the Bayanihan Bakunahan monitoring tour at the Sta. Rosa Multi-Purpose Sports Complex here.
To further motivate the towns to vaccinate as many residents as they can, Hernandez also said cash incentives would be given away to the top-performing municipality and city during the vaccination event.
"Bilang motivation sa effort ng mga kasamahan sa pagtratrabaho, kung sino ang magna-number one sa municipality level at sa city level ay bibigyan po natin ng (As a motivation to the efforts of our workmates, whichever ends up at number one in the municipality and the city levels will be given) PHP250,000)," he said.
Exceeding the target
Hernandez's announcement came amid another good news for the province in terms of its race to achieve herd immunity from Covid-19.
He said Laguna has actually exceeded its target recipients of Covid-19 vaccines during the first three days of the Bayanihan Bakunahan drive.
"Noong pinagsama-sama po ang lahat ng effort ng mga munisipyo, cities, at ng probinsya, nakakuha tayo ng 122 percent sa ating (After all the efforts of the municipalities, cities, and the province have been collected, we achieved 122 percent of our) target," Hernandez said.
He said the provincial government was only targeting 210,000 people vaccinated during the original Bayanihan Bakunahan period from Monday to Wednesday.
Around 256,000 people have actually showed up during the three-day vaccination drive, he added.
One factor that led to the success of the vaccination drive in the province, Hernandez said, is incentivizing inoculation.
"Kapag kami po ay bumababa para magpabakuna, nagbibigay kami ng tatlong kilong bigas (When we go down to inoculate, we are giving away three kilos of rice)," Hernandez said.
He said the incentive actually attracted a lot of people in one vaccination site in his hometown of Calamba.
"Noong first day namin, naka 1,500 kami sa isang vaccination area namin sa Calamba. Noong second day, siguro nakaapekto yung nabalitaan na magbibigay ng bigas, naka 3,000 po kami ng nabakunahan (During the first day, we vaccinated 1,500 people at a vaccination area in Calamba. During the second day, probably affected by the news that we are giving away rice, we had 3,000 people vaccinated)," Hernandez said.
With the nationwide vaccination drive extended to Friday, expect the final number to swell further.
Despite the success of the Bayanihan Bakunahan in his province, Hernandez, however, said the provincial government has yet to set a target number of inoculated people for the provincial vaccination day.
He said a meeting with all the health officers in the province would be set first before finalizing how the Dec. 13 event would happen.
"Imi-meeting pa namin ang mga (We will first meet the) city and municipal health officers, then after the meeting, magse-set tayo ng (we will set a) target," Hernandez said. "Ayoko naman na magbigay agad ng ganitong quota na hindi pa natin nakikita mismo yung general assessment natin (I don't want to quickly give a certain quota without not seeing the general assessment)."
“Ibe-base natin sa capacity natin na ginawa noong national vaccination day. Di na tayo lalayo doon (We will base the target in the capacity we had during the national vaccination day. We will not go far from there),” he added. (PNA)
