Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte said Friday the local government is considering giving incentives to those getting the COVID-19 vaccine to encourage more residents to get inoculated.
Although the city is not yet experiencing any vaccine hesitancy from its constituents, Belmonte said she is "anticipating" to feel it by mid-year that is why they are already ramping up their information dissemination company, especially in areas where "the hesitancy comes from."
"We are also toying with the idea of coming up with incentives already as to how to encourage those people, because now we've identified there's some kind of an income correlation eh," she said in a CNN Philippines interview.
Belmonte said they are eyeing to give incentives to those who have been greatly affected by the COVID-19 crisis, especially those who lost their jobs or those who suffered hunger during the pandemic.
This is because those from the poor sector prefer to spend their time working and earning money rather than getting vaccinated, she said.
"Yung mga mamamayan natin na mas malaki ang mga problema, nawalan ng trabaho, nawalan ng hanap buhay, walang pinagkakakitaan, nagugutom, sila ‘yung medyo (Our constituents who are facing bigger problem such as job loss and hunger, they are the ones whose) vaccination is the hardest thing from their minds," Belmonte said.
The mayor said the idea is not yet final as they are still looking for funds, but they already did a dry-run on her plan. It was proven effective when they launched it for tricycle drivers on Labor Day.
"Nakita natin noong simula, wala talaga na gusto magpabakuna kasi kailangan nila mamasada, sayang daw ang kita (We saw at first that no tricycle driver wanted to get inoculated because they said, it would be a great loss if they wouldn't work) and I understand that," she said, (Pero) noong sinabi natin na meron tayong ayuda, bakuna plus ayuda... marami naman ang nag-sign up (But when we told them we would give them vaccine and food assistance, many signed up)."
The incentives offered to tricycle drivers were food packs, including rice, canned goods and vegetables.
"So what we're seeing is that that really addresses the basic human need, like food, I think we'll be able to encourage many people to sign up ," she added.