Standard quarantine protocols urgent – Lacson

FILE Sen. Panfilo Lacson

MANILA, Philippines — The government must fast-track the formulation of uniform quarantine protocols for vaccinated Filipinos, including those working overseas, to help the economy recover more quickly, according to Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

Over the weekend, the senator expressed approval after vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. reported that the National Task Force Against COVID-19 was drafting standard quarantine protocols for returning Filipinos, whether vaccinated here or abroad.

“Please make it sooner, not later. Mind the economy for a change,” Lacson said in a Twitter post.

He earlier pushed for the creation of a COVID-19 vaccine passport system that would make traveling to the Philippines easier for vaccinated individuals, including foreign investors.

At the same time, Lacson urged the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to fine-tune its COVID-19 guidelines and “make sure the protocols [were] in sync with those of other countries.”

He also supported the recommendation of the Department of Health (DOH) to scrap the COVID-19 testing requirement for returning Filipinos who had been fully vaccinated abroad.

“Way to go! This is one sensible adjustment that our ‘kababayans’ abroad who miss their families here have been wanting to hear from DOH,” he said in another tweet.

Beginning June 22, returning Filipinos who were fully vaccinated in the country would undergo quarantine for just seven days. They would undergo a swab test only if they show COVID-19 symptoms during the quarantine period.

Foreign nationals and Filipinos who received their jabs abroad, on the other hand, would still undergo testing and a 10-day facility-based quarantine.

The protocols are based on IATF Resolution No. 119 which was signed on June 3, 2021.

—WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH