Concepcion pushes use of vaccine passes anew

BIGAS FOR BAKUNA- A man registers for Covid19 vaccine at a covered court in Bgy. Sucat, Muntilupa City where 25 kilos of rice is being raffled weekly to 20 residents who are vaccinated to encourage people to get inoculated amid vaccine hesistancy. INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion is again pushing for the use of vaccine passes, which would allow customers who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter indoor establishments.

In a statement, Concepcion said that local business groups discussed during an online meeting on Friday the implementation of a vaccine card to identify those who have received their COVID-19 shots.

Concepcion, who heads RFM Corp., said those not willing to take the vaccine should not stand in the way of greater mobility for everyone else.

“It’s clear that those who are able to protect themselves and others should be granted greater mobility. They will be the ones to help us open the economy safely,” he said in a statement released last week.

“I believe greater mobility should be given to those who take the vaccine. Seniors will be able to go out, domestic travelers will not be required to do [swab] tests or eliminate if not reduce their quarantine time, and restaurants can take on more customers provided the additional people are those who have been vaccinated,” he said.

But both the Department of Health and the Department of Trade and Industry do not support the use of vaccine passes.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez previously said that apart from a possible issue of discrimination, only a tiny portion of the population had been vaccinated anyway.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire has also advised against the use of vaccine passes since there was still not enough evidence to show that inoculated individuals would no longer get mild to moderate infection, or that they could no longer infect others.

Cards in digital form

Concepcion said leaders and representatives of various industry groups joined the online meeting. These include officials from the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Philippine Hotel Owners Association, the Philippine Franchise Association, and the Restaurant Owners of the Philippines (ROP).

Eric Teng, head of the ROP, reportedly said restaurants could safely expand capacity by allowing vaccinated customers to be added on top of the current 20-percent capacity.

“The general agreement among the business groups was that vaccine cards should be in a digital form so that data can be centralized with the national government, and that the cards should be able to resist forgery and can take into account future vaccinations against mutations or variants of COVID-19,” the statement read.

Other groups that joined the meeting were the International Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Philippine Retailers Association, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce, and Philippine Franchise Association, as well as representatives from Philippine Airlines, SM Supermalls and JG Summit.