FILE PHOTO: Health workers encode information and prepare vaccines against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a mobile vaccination site in Taguig, Metro Manila, Philippines, May 21, 2021. REUTERS/Lisa Marie David/File Photo
MANILA, Philippines — Fully vaccinated persons may get “liberal incentives,” including relaxed travel restrictions from the government if 30 percent of the population have already received their full doses of COVID-19 vaccines, the Department of Health (DOH) said Friday.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the DOH is open to recommendations to allow relaxed restrictions for fully vaccinated individuals but added that its implementation should be done gradually.
She noted that certain benefits for fully vaccinated people are available in the United States and the United Kingdom since around 30 to 40 percent of their population have already been vaccinated.
“Ngayong mababa pa lang ang coverage for vaccination, [the number of] fully vaccinated individuals ay mababa pa rin po. Atin pong pagpasensyahan muna. We try to be patient. Dadating tayo sa point na pag nareach na natin ‘yung threshold na ‘yan, we will also have this kind of liberal incentives for the fully vaccinated,” she said in an online media forum.
(Now that the vaccine coverage is still low, the number of fully vaccinated individuals is also low. Let us be understanding for now. We try to be patient. We will come to that point of having this kind of liberal incentives for the fully vaccinated once we reach this threshold.)
“Pag vaccine coverage ang pinag-uusapan sa threshold ay para tayo ay magkaroon ng relax restrictions among fully vaccinated. Pag tiningnan natin, ang rekomendasyon ay merong 30 percent, sa ating mga eksperto, na population coverage na tinatawag. Pero ang isa nilang gustong ipunto rin, gusto nilang makita na at least 50 percent of the senior citizens are also vaccinated. Ito ‘yung mga tinitingnan,” she said.
(In vaccine coverage, we are talking about the threshold for us to relax restrictions for the fully vaccinated. The recommendation of our experts is that 30 percent of the population should be fully vaccinated first. However, they also say that at least 50 percent of senior citizens should also be vaccinated. These are the figures we are looking at.)
Vergeire said the figures are not final yet as the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has yet to decide on the matter.
Meanwhile, Malacañang earlier announced that all inbound Filipino travelers who were fully vaccinated in the country and are returning from abroad will be required to undergo a seven-day facility-based quarantine upon arrival. The normal facility-based quarantine period for arriving travelers is 10 days.