Pimentel bucks proposed vaccine passports

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III on Saturday reiterated his call for the Senate to take out from the proposed coronavirus vaccination program law provisions mandating the issuance of a “vaccine passport” to citizens inoculated against COVID-19. Pimentel said the proposed issuance of a vaccine passport might be discriminatory, as it may impair citizens who opted not to be vaccinated of their freedom of movement and deprive them access to social services. Pimentel aired his objection to a proposed provision in Senate Bill No. 2057, or the proposed COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act, which grants inoculated citizens with a certification that they have received the COVID-19 vaccine. “Each citizen may be issued a vaccine booklet that can be stamped. For me, this does not have to be spelled out into a law,” Pimentel said. —Melvin Gascon