Precious Hipolito Castelo

Free COVID vax certificates urged

July 13, 2021 Ryan Ponce Pacpaco 959 views

THE coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) vaccination certificates the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) would issue should be free of charge on the part of the public, a House leader said Tuesday.

“The government should not burden the people financially for these certificates, which should be issued fast with no red tape and bureaucratic delay as soon as the needed data reaches the DICT.

There should also be no politics in their issuance,” House Assistant Majority Leader and Quezon City Rep. Precious Hipolito Castelo said.

Castelo said those fully vaccinated would need such certifications for local or international travel, employment, mobility, education, and other purposes.

“The fast and free-of-chance issuance of the vaccination document and the numerous purposes it would serve could entice those still hesitant to get vaccinated to finally take the vaccine. For one, the document could enhance mobility,” Castelo added.

The DICT has promised to issue the certificates to those fully vaccinated starting next month. In the meantime, it is urging local government units (LGUs) to upload their vaccination lists to its database.

The decision to issue a uniform certificate arose from the fact that LGUs have varying documents evidencing single-dose and full-dose vaccination, making it difficult for the authorities to verify such documents.

Such difficulty has been highlight by the recent ruling of the pandemic response task force that fully vaccinated individuals were free to travel to other regions without being required to present a COVID-19 test showing a negative result.

The task force has since changed such rule upon protest by many LGUs, leaving the matter to the discretion of local officials.

Castelo said the DICT and the pandemic task force should anticipate the problem of verifying the genuineness of vaccination certificates by establishments such as airports, seaports and tourist destinations and LGUs where they would be presented.

“If these establishments and LGUs and the possessors of the certificates have no internet access, how would the verification be conducted? Let us remember that many of those fully vaccinated have no smart phones or mobile internet, and remote LGUs have no internet link,” she said.

Maybe, in such cases, the presented DICT-certificate and the LGU-issued vaccination card should be accepted as authentic, she said.

She added that the pandemic response task force should come up rules on the use and verification of vaccination certificates ahead of their issuance by the DICT.

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