Bulgaria’s Health Ministry launches game to encourage people to get Covid-19 jabs
Bulgaria’s Ministry of Health is launching a new information campaign aimed at promoting vaccination against Covid-19 in the country, including a game in which 102 smart watches may be won by those getting the jab.
The one-month campaign comes against a background of the most recent figures from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control showing that only 22.7 per cent of Bulgaria’s population have completed the vaccination cycle, compared with the EU-EEA figure of 73.3 per cent.
The Health Ministry statement on September 30 that the information campaign would include sending a text message to subscribers to the country’s three telecom operators, encouraging people to be vaccinated because Covid-19 vaccines save lives, and they could get the chance to win a smart watch.
The message will be sent to subscribers irrespective of their vaccination status at the time of sending, the ministry said.
It said that the winners of the watches would be chosen on a random basis by drawing lots at the Ministry of Health. The draw will be held every Friday.
The game will run until October 31, the ministry said.
To participate, the person must be over the age of 12 and be vaccinated between September 30 and October 31, whether or not the immunisation cycle is complete. All Bulgarian citizens and foreigners resident in Bulgaria during the period of the game who receive a vaccination in Bulgaria are eligible.
The vaccine may be from any of the four vaccines against Covid-19 approved for use in Bulgaria, and may be a first, second or booster dose.
The rules of the game, registration form and additional information are available on the coronavirus.bg website, the ministry said.
“In the first days of the raffle, participants in the promotion game should bear in mind that vaccination data are sometimes entered into the system at the end of the working day and therefore the system may report a failed registration. It is therefore recommended that they try to register at a later stage,” the statement said.
The software for drawing the winners and for the online registration for participation in the game have been developed by state-owned IT firm Informatsionno Obsluzhvane.
“The company already has experience in conducting public campaigns with prizes for participants, such as the National Revenue Agency raffle involving till slips,” the ministry said.
It said that Informatsionno Obsluzhvane is committed to ensure the security of personal data of participants, as well as strict compliance with the rules.
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