Cattle for raffle gets Thai town in moood for vaccines
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[May 22, 2021]
By Panarat Thepgumpanat
BANGKOK (Reuters) -A district of northern
Thailand has launched a raffle campaign for inoculated residents to win
a live cow per week for the rest of the year, in a bid to boost the
local COVID-19 vaccination drive.
From next month, one lucky vaccinated villager in the Mae Chaem district
of Chiang Mai province will be randomly chosen every week to win a young
cow worth around 10,000 baht ($319).
The campaign, set to run for 24 weeks, has been met with enthusiasm in
the town of 43,000 since it was announced earlier this week.
"Our vaccine registration numbers have gone from hundreds to thousands
in a couple of days," district chief Boonlue Thamtharanurak told
Reuters.
"The villagers love cows. Cows can be sold for cash."
More than 4,000 people in priority groups, including those over
60-years-old and those with pre-existing conditions, have already
registered for their shots, Boonlue said.
The town will start vaccinations on June 7, in line with the
government's national rollout.
Other provinces in Thailand have also come up with creative incentives
to boost registration, such as gold necklace giveaways, store discount
coupons, or cash handouts.
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A farmer in Thailand walks his cattle back home as the sun sets on
August 14, 2007. REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang
At least 1.64 million of Thailand's 66 million
population, have already received their first doses and more than 7
million have registered so far.
The Southeast Asian country has been hit by its biggest coronavirus
outbreak so far, with the majority of its 119,585 cases and 703
deaths recorded in the past two months.
($1 = 31.3700 baht)
(Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat; Writing by Patpicha
Tanakasempipat; Editing by Martin Petty)
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