Business owners asked to give incentive to vaccinated customers

CEBU, Philippines —  The Cebu City Council has appealed to business owners to incentivize health-seeking behavior by offering discounts, freebies, deals, and promos to vaccinated customers who can present proof of vaccination.

The council said such move could help reinvigorate business and the economy, as well as help encourage people to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Among those encouraged by the city council are grocery stores and supermarkets, restaurants, online food businesses, gyms and spa, hotels, pharmacies, tourism spots, public transportation, and other retail stores and service-oriented establishments.

“Aside from implementing a comprehensive and well-planned public education drive about COVID-19 vaccine, one strategy that could help encourage positive health-related choice which in this case, getting the jab, is the use of reward and incentives through the involvement of the business sector,” said Councilor Alvin Dizon, who sponsored the resolution on the matter.

Dizon said incentivizing health-seeking behavior by businesses can also be used as an information, education, and communication platform to educate people to learn the facts about how the vaccine help end the pandemic.

Science has established that COVID-19 vaccination is an important tool to help stop the pandemic and that the fate of the human race and the global economic recovery is linked to safe and effective vaccination.

Dizon said vaccine hesitancy is but a natural human reaction when something new is put into a person’s body.

This is also fueled by many other factors such as misinformation and conspiracy theories around COVID-19 and the vaccines, news about adverse effects of a particular vaccine brand, rapid development and approval of vaccines, serious gap on public information on the benefits of being inoculated, among others.

Dizon said it is important to fully address this vaccine hesitancy and for as many people as possible to get vaccinated against COVID-19 so “we could protect ourselves, our family and our community and we can all safely resume to our normal activities most especially in reopening our economy.” — FPL (FREEMAN)