District In Thailand Offers Cow Raffle To Promote COVID-19 Vaccinations

Thailand's Mae Chaem District of northern Chiang Mai province has launched a raffle campaign, offering residents who get inoculated a chance to win a live cow per week for free.

On Tuesday (June 15), 65-year-old resident Inkham Thongkham became one of the weekly winners of the lucky draw, bringing home a one-year-old female cow which he hopes would later produce offspring and help bring income to his family in the future.

"This is best gift ever from the district-chief officer and the the people who donated (the cattle)," Inkham told Reuters.

The lucky draw is part of an incentive to attract residents who were reluctant to take the coronavirus vaccines due to fear of potential side effects, according to district chief Boonlue Thamtharanurak. It will also help to build herd immunity against the virus.

Now in its second week, the campaign has seen overwhelming interest with 50 percent of the Mae Chaem district villagers already signed up to get vaccinated. Over 1,400 residents, mainly the elderly and high-risk groups, have already received vaccines, which was more than what officials had expected in a short span of time.

Authorities said the give-away campaign will run until the vaccination drive is completed as most of the locals are cattle farmers. Each cow is worth around 10,000 baht ($319) and a total of 27 cows have been donated. But authorities said there are also rules for the winners: the cows are not for resale, not to be slaughtered, and if they were to die later their meat cannot be consumed.

Thailand has administered at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to 4.76 million of its 66 million total population.