No system yet to verify vaccination status of inbound passengers — DOH

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) is looking at ways to verify the vaccination status of travelers entering the Philippines after the government has enforced a more relaxed seven-day quarantine period for individuals arriving from abroad who have been fully vaccinated in the Philippines.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Saturday however said the government has yet to come up with a system to verify the vaccination status of inbound passengers who have been vaccinated in other countries.

“May challenge pa tayo kasi sa systems natin ngayon kung saan humahanap pa tayo ng means to verify ‘yung vaccination na manggagaling sa ibang bansa,” she said in a Laging Handa public briefing.

(We are still facing a challenge because, in our present systems, we are still looking for means to verify the vaccination status of people who are arriving from other countries.)

“Kailangan lang natin ayusin ‘yung sistema because we need to have a form of verification kapag ang isang tao ay nabakunahan sa ibang bansa,” she added.

(We just have to fix the system because we need to have a form of verification if a person was already vaccinated in another country.)

Vergeire said they are considering using bilateral agreements with certain countries, adopting the Bureau of Quarantine’s system of verification, which she said, is internationally recognized.

She added that the public must also be informed that the implementation of a more relaxed quarantine period for inbound travelers will be done in “phases” and will be “gradual” since COVID-19 cases are still on the rise and vaccination in the country is not yet widespread.

“‘Yung ibang sektor na hindi natin napapabilang dito ay baka puwedeng sa susunod na buwan na,” Vergeire said.

(The other sectors that are not yet included may be included in the next months.)

The government’s pandemic task force earlier announced that arriving travelers who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are required to undergo 7-day quarantine, instead of the previous 10 days.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Roque noted that the new policy only covers “fully vaccinated individuals who have been inoculated in the Philippines.”

An RT-PCR or swab test will only be done if the traveler manifests COVID-19 symptoms within the seven-day quarantine period.

As of June 2, about 5.3 million COVID-19 doses have been administered in the Philippines, of which some 4 million have been given the first dose while 1.2 million were given the second dose.

This means that about 1.2 million Filipinos so far are considered as  “fully vaccinated.”

The government has only been inoculating medical frontliners, senior citizens, persons with comorbidities, and essential workers.

/MUF