Bolivia city gives food incentives for COVID jabs

Bolivian authorities in El Alto are seeking to increase the amount of people who come forward for COVID-19 vaccinations by offering food incentives.

The vaccination campaign is taking place as a new batch of the Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Bolivia that will be applied to people waiting for the second dose.

El Alto "is on the last step of vaccination" of the entire nation, said Jeyson Auza, Health Minister on Saturday during an event where President Luis Arce, the mayor of that city Eva Copa announced the launching of the immunization campaign.

The mayor's office of El Alto announced that people who get inoculated should be given foods such as noodles and rice in exchange.

In addition, more vaccination centers were set up, and the government donated a couple of refrigerators to maintain the cold chain of the vials.

President Arce urged the public to get vaccinated to prevent a fourth wave, to help the country's troubled economy.

Meanwhile, Bolivia received a new batch of 125,000 doses of Sputnik V that had been delayed, causing uncertainty in people who received their first dose more than 90 days ago.

A similar shipment arrived last weekend.

Bolivia's Health Ministry reported that so far 28% of the population has received two doses and 40% have had their first dose, of a population of 7.1 million people.

The pandemic, which is on the decline with fewer than a thousand new cases per day, has infected more than 481,600 and killed more than 18,000 in Bolivia, according to authorities.