National ID system to help in efficient vaccine distribution, says lawmaker

Rep. Florida Robes speaks at the awarding ceremony at the House of Representatives. FILE PHOTO / Rep. Robes’ office

MANILA, Philippines — The implementation of the national ID system will help in the efficient administration of vaccines against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a lawmaker has said.

Rep. Rida Robes of San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan, in her privilege speech on Monday, said that experts have noted that implementing a biometric digital ID system is a “game changer” in vaccine administration.

“Our IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force) should seriously consider facilitating the implementation of the national ID system as our biometric ID on the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine in order to identify and track patients even in rural and offline settings to ensure that everyone receives a COVID-19 vaccine,” she said.

She pointed out that the biometric digital ID system “has been proven effective in health and humanitarian projects in many countries all over the world.”

“A health biometric ID has been successfully rolled out in 12 countries which increased health care visits and prevented fraud,” added Robes.

On Wednesday, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said President Rodrigo Duterte and his Cabinet approved the proposed P3.52-billion additional budget for the implementation of the national ID system for 2021.

Roque said the additional funds will be used to register 20 million more individuals to the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) by the end of 2021, on top of the 50 million target registration.

The pre-registration process for the national ID system started only last October, covering around five million Filipinos from 32 provinces.

JPV