THE Davao City government is giving away one kilo of rice for Davaoeños who will avail of a booster dose to encourage more people to have themselves vaccinated.

Dr. Michelle Schlosser, spokesman for the city’s Covid-19 Task Force, on Thursday said Davaoeños who get a booster dose will receive one kilo of rice in any of the city’s operational vaccination hubs that are catering to boosters.

She said that the initiative started on April 26.

However, free rice will only be available until supply lasts, Schlosser said.

She admitted that the booster vaccination drive in the city has been very slow.

As of May 6, at least 252,267 or 19.24 percent of the 1,311,008 fully immunized individuals in the city had received their first booster jabs.

From the 249,360 who received their first boosters as of April 29, only 2,907 were added to that number after one week.

Of the 252,267 who got their first booster shot, at least 734 or 0.29 percent had received their second booster dose as of May 6, 2022.

Apart from the immuno-compromised individuals who can avail of the second booster dose, the city is also catering to all A1, A2 and A3 priority groups.

Medical frontliners (A1), senior citizens (A2) and adults with comorbidities (A3) can start getting their second booster shots at least three months after receiving the first booster dose.

Schlosser said fast lanes have been set up for business processing outsource (BPO) workers at the People’s Park and for public utility drivers at the Crocodile Park.

She also said these two parks are operational Mondays to Saturdays, catering to 12 years old and above vaccinees needing primary and booster doses.

Schlosser called on parents and guardians to have their children ages 5 to 11 vaccinated as soon as possible since faceto-face classes have started in some schools and many young students remain unvaccinated.

The city targets 242,209 in the 5 to 11 age group, but only 16,846 or 6.96 percent received their first doses while 13,692 or 5.65 percent have received their second jabs.