Taiwan launched an island-wide H1N1 vaccination campaign to bribe its citizens with cabbage and other small gifts to encourage people to take the shot.

According to the Department of Health, more than half a million people took the vaccination in thousands of designated centres, including hospitals, clinics, community centres, shopping malls, train stations and temples.

Some Taiwanese are reluctant to take the shot, fearing the vaccine is not safe.

To lure people to take the shot, the shopping malls and community centres gave each recipient a big green cabbage or a small gift, like a ruler or a rubber eraser.

Premier Wu Den-yi took the H1N1 vaccine shot last Saturday. President Ma Ying-jeou was took a shot of the locally-developed H1N1 vaccine last month. However, vaccine critics have pointed to the German two-tier vaccine system where officials and military are being given a different vaccine than the public.

Before the campaign, Taiwan had already vaccinated 2.6 million people who they claim were categorized as priority groups.

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