Travelers warned vs faking vaccination cards

GOOD HOUSEKEEPING To further encourage COVID-19 vaccinations, the Mandaluyong City government is marking households whose members have completed two doses. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines — Rizal Rep. Fidel Nograles warned the public on Tuesday that forging COVID-19 vaccination cards might well be considered falsification of public documents, which was punishable by law.

In a statement, Nograles said the authorities must remind the public that faking their vaccine cards could land them in jail after the government’s pandemic response task force relaxed quarantine rules for fully vaccinated individuals who no longer need to present negative swab test results for travels within the Philippines.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) earlier said individuals who wished to travel within the Philippines would only need to present their COVID-19 domestic vaccination cards, except in areas under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) or modified ECQ.

Nograles welcomed the new protocol of the IATF, saying that “we also need to slowly bring back our strong economy before the pandemic.” “As such, we just have to ensure that nobody falsifies vaccine cards by reminding them that this means jail time and monetary fine,” he said.

The lawmaker hopes the IATF would also allow the exemption of vaccinated persons from pandemic-related curfews and allow them to play contact sports such as basketball.