A Quezon City lawmaker on Tuesday, July 13 called on the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to ensure that the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination certificates will be given away free to the public.
Quezon City 2nd District Rep. Precious Hipolito Castelo made the appeal as she underscored the importance of distributing COVID-19 vaccine certificate to the people.
“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,” she said.
Castelo said many individuals will be needing vaccination certificates in applying for local or foreign jobs, for 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,” explained the vice chairperson of the House Committee on Metro Manila Development.
Ealiier, the DICT vowed to 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.
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.