DOH-7: LGU rules prevail on travel of vaccinated persons

CEBU, Philippines — The policy of the local government unit would still prevail on allowing inter-zonal travel for those fully vaccinated persons, said the Visayas Vaccination Operation Center spokesperson, Dr. Mary Jean Loreche.

Loreche, the chief pathologist of the Department of Health-7, pointed out that in the latest Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) guidelines for those fully vaccinated persons traveling from an area with a similar community quarantine status, there is no requirement for testing or quarantine, but they are still be subject to the LGU protocols.

“Meaning, if the LGU will require a negative PCR result, then, the traveler will still have to submit,” Loreche said.

She added that for those fully vaccinated persons that may develop symptoms or are close contacts of a known positive person, then the necessary protocols on quarantine and testing apply.

Loreche also said that the national government through the Department of Information and Communications Technology has already readied the database for the uniformity of the standard of the national vaccine certificate.

“Sa pagkakaron the LGUs where you are having your vaccination make sure they are able to give you a vaccine certificate that will be honored and accepted where you are going or travelling. Very important and essential nga ang imong mga data that you are going to submit in the materlisting for you to become vaccinated with the correct and true data. Dili pwede nga lahi imong ihatag sa vaccination unya lahi pud sa imong other acceptable government IDs,” Loreched said.

Loreche also reminded that for a fully vaccinated individual not forget that even if a person fully vaccinated, one can still contract the virus and you can still transmit it because at the end of the day the vaccines will only prevent from developing a severe kind of illness and to help prevent the development of a clinical disease.

According to IATF, a fully vaccinated individual is someone who has more than or equal to two weeks after having received the second dose in a two-dose vaccine; or more than or equal to two weeks after having received a single-dose vaccine.

In addition, IATF said that a fully vaccinated individual must be administered with vaccines that are included in the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) List or Compassionate Special Permit (CSP) issued by the Philippine Food and Drug Administration or Emergency Use Listing of the World Health Organization. — GMR (FREEMAN)