Palace seeks patience over ongoing unified vaccination card project

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Monday asked the public for patience as the government builds up the masterlist of Filipinos who already completed their COVID-19 vaccination amid reports of persons getting booster shots or multiple jabs in different cities.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is already consolidating data of persons vaccinated from various local government units (LGUs) for the issuance of a unified vaccination card or certificate.

“Meron po tayong ginagawang masterlist, yan po yung proyekto ng DICT. Kaya lang po, gaya nang hindi naman po natin inaasahan talaga itong pandemya na ito, we’ve had to make that masterlist as we go along. So konting pasensya lang po,” Roque said in a press briefing.

(We are making a masterlist, that’s the project of the DICT. But we didn’t expect this pandemic so we have to make that masterlist as we go along. So we ask for a little patience.)

“Yung mga nagrereklamo rin na kinakailangan ang certificate of vaccination na galing sa isang ahensya ng gobyerno, dyan po papasok yung DICT list natin. At ngayon po, nandyan na yung programa, pinapasok lang po ngayon galing sa mga LGUs yung mga nabakunahan na,” he added.

(Those who are complaining that they need a certificate of vaccination from a government agency, that’s where the DICT list will enter. And now, the program is there, the data of persons vaccinated from LGUs are just being transferred.)

READ: Unified vax card rollout depends on local gov’ts submitting data—DICT 

Roque also stressed that the government does not tolerate those who are hopping from one local government unit to another to receive additional COVID-19 vaccine doses.

In Quezon City, two individuals were charged for getting a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine despite already being fully vaccinated.

“Hindi po natin kinukunsinti yan dahil marami pa po ang hindi nababakunahan. Ang pakiusap po natin, lahat naman po ng bakuna, nagbibigay proteksyon. So antayin po muna natin na magkaroon ng bakuna ang karamihan ng ating mga kababayan bago po tayo mag-booster shots,” Roque said.

(We do not tolerate that because many people have yet to be vaccinated. All vaccines provide protection. Let’s wait for the rest to be vaccinated before we get booster shots.)

Roque floated the possibility of giving overseas Filipino workers and seafarers an exemption from getting booster shots, but advised them to instead request for the vaccine brand their employers require to give way to others who have yet to be vaccinated.

JPV