Gov’t to issue COVID-19 vaccine passports — DOH

MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos who will be vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) will be issued vaccine passports by the Philippine government, the Department of Health (DOH) said Friday.

“Itong vaccine passport na ito, meron po tayo. Magkakaroon po tayo ng ganyan, and as we have said in the previous na mga pag-uusap, magkakaroon po tayo ng data registry for all recipients,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online press briefing.

(We will have a vaccine passport, and as we have said in previous talks, we will have a data registry for all recipients.)

According to Vergeire, a QR code will be given to every individual who would be vaccinated against COVID-19.

“This would be something of a unique identifier for a specific person who will receive the vaccine, and dito magkakaroon din po sila ng card na nagsasabi na sila ay nabakunahan, either with one dose or two doses. This will serve as their certificate that they have been vaccinated,” she added.

(This will be a unique identifier for a specific person who will receive the vaccine, and they will have a card that will indicate that they have been vaccinated, either with one or two doses.)

Vergeire said she believes that the vaccine passport, once it is widely implemented, will be part of protocols for border control in different countries.

In December last year, Ang Probinsyano party-list Rep. Ronnie Ong filed House Bill No. 8280, or the Vaccination Passport Act, which seeks the issuance of vaccine passports for those who will receive vaccine shots during the country’s mass vaccination program against COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.

/MUF