OWING to its “slow” vaccine rollout, Mandaue City has thought of a way to lure the city’s residents to get their Covid-19 jabs — business establishments will offer discounts and promos to vaccinated individuals.
Mayor Jonas Cortes has tapped the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) to help encourage businesses to offer discounts and promotions to residents who had been vaccinated against the Covid-19.
The move was prompted by the numbers reported on the city’s vaccination program which appeared to be slow, Cortes said.
A report from the Mandaue City Vaccination Operations Center (VOC) said 10,514 individuals have been inoculated with the first dose.
Of the number, only 4,770 have been fully vaccinated as of Tuesday, June 1.
Those vaccinated came from the A1 to A4 (health workers, senior citizens, persons with comorbidities and frontline personnel in essential sectors) priority groups.
Cortes explained the discounts will not be made compulsory on the establishments.
Mandaue businesses will simply be encouraged to provide certain discounts on their products and services.
Cortes said he will take this up with the private sector considering the economic effects of the pandemic on businesses that also have to contend with a smaller number of customers and shorter operating hours.
For his part, MCCI president Steven Yu said the group supports Cortes’ appeal as the best investment today for any business community is to help their respective areas attain herd immunity.
“In order for the momentum to be sustained, the Mandaue City LGU and MCCI are soliciting the support of business establishments to offer discounts/incentives to vaccinated individuals/customers as a way of increasing vaccine confidence,” Yu said.
“This is the only way to end the pandemic and to build back the economy and is especially applicable in Cebu which is a consumption and tourism driven economy,” Yu said.
Establishments in Mandaue City have reportedly responded to the call to offer discounts and promotions to vaccinated customers.
“We are hoping that more will join, and more importantly, that we as a community should proactively promote vaccine confidence, and encourage vaccination among our family, employees and friends,” Yu said.
Once the vaccines start arriving in sufficient quantities, Yu said the biggest stumbling block would be the people’s hesitancy to get vaccinated.
New vaccination sites
Meanwhile, Cortes said Mandaue City will intensify its information campaign on the Covid-19 vaccination program to let the public understand its importance.
This week, a vaccination site opened in Pacific Mall located along U.N. Avenue.
Mandaue City eyes to open more vaccination sites inside malls not only to help the city get more people vaccinated but also to help malls generate income with more customers coming in since the average number of vaccine recipients per site is around 200 to 300.
Cortes said the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) has conducted an inspection of other malls to check if the space provided by management as possible vaccination site is suitable.
A suitable vaccination site is one that is accessible, spacious, well-ventilated and with sufficient parking. (JOB)