The Philippines authorities will release digital vaccine certificates to enable movement of the public in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) will develop a digital solution that would show the COVID-19 vaccination status of an individual. She said that by August-end or beginning of September they hope to start automation and issue the digitized vaccine certificate.
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“We want to provide persons with vaccine certificates when they go abroad [so that] mas madali and more standard yung ating vaccination certificates (it will be easier and our vaccination certificates are more standard),” said Cabotaje.
Cabotaje however did not clarify whether the digital certificate will be a QR code, but added that more details about the digitized vaccine certificates would be released in 2 or 3 weeks. She said while some travelers have been using the International Certificate of Vaccination (ICV) from the Bureau of Quarantine in lieu of a COVID-19 vaccine pass, the document is not a travel requirement.
The ICV was originally used to verify the vaccination status of travelers against Yellow fever, she said, adding “not all countries recognize the yellow card… Not all countries require the yellow card.” (AW)
