Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Friday said over 33 million people have registered with their local government units (LGUs) to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Año said this number is due to ajoint government and private sector information and advocacy campaign, including creative ways devised by LGUs to persuade them to sign up.

As of July 1, government data showed that a total of 11, 016, 198 Filipinos were vaccinated against COVID-19.

“They are innovating and seem to be outperforming each other in encouraging their constituents to get jabbed through perks and incentives such as raffle prizes of motorcycles and even a house and lot for those who have had their anti-COVID-19 doses," Año said.

He commended all efforts being done by local government units for their constituents to get vaccinated.

“Only through vaccination will we reach that certain level of population protection that will allow us to transition into the new normal and completely recover from the pandemic,” the secretary said.

Año said he is pleased vaccine hesitancy is continuously decreasing.

“Instead of vaccine hesitancy, we would prefer vaccine envy among LGUs and the public so that they would be more motivated to increase their vaccination efforts,” he said.

Año said the private sector, through the Task Force T3’s (Test, Trace and Treat) Smart Bakuna Benefits Program. have been very helpful in scaling up the national vaccination program.

He said Task Force T3 has partnered with close to 200 private establishments to offer discounts and exclusive freebies to those who have received their anti-COVID-19 shots.

Through the T3’s initiative, customers just need to present their original COVID-19 vaccination card and a valid ID to participating restaurants in NCR Plus in order to avail of exclusive offers like free dishes, drink upsizes, discounts, or “buy one get one” promo.

Taskforce T3 is a multi-sectoral public-private consortium of companies and organizations working closely with the National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19 and the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) in managing the COVID-19 situation in the Philippines. Ella Dionisio/DMS