The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) urged Saturday, Sept. 11, local government units (LGUs) to expedite the uploading of complete and accurate data of their respective coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination data into the government's Vaccine Information Management System (VIMS) to enable fully-vaccinated individuals to secure their digital vaccination certificates.’’
The VIMS is being managed by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
“VaxCertPH is an important tool for the issuance of digital vaccination certificates for those who have already completed their COVID-19 doses in the country. LGUs should, therefore, ensure that they input accurate data to the VIMS within 24 hours from vaccination,” said DILG Secretary Eduardo M. Año.
The soft launch of the VaxCertPH program in the National Capital Region (NCR) was held earlier this month.
Año explained that the digital certificates issued under VaxCertPH will serve as proof for Filipinos and non-Filipinos who were vaccinated in the Philippines with plans of travelling outside the country “or return from overseas, addressing the need for countries that may require a vaccine certification issued by the Philippine Department of Health upon entry.’’
“Currently on soft-launch, VaxCertPH is initially available only to OFWs and foreign travellers in Metro Manila. It will be launched nationwide after the NCR pilot period,’’ the DILG said.
A total of 20.9 Million Filipinos have already been fully vaccinated with the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) vaccine which corresponds to 27.1 percent of the country’s eligible population.
In Metro Manila, a total of 5.1 million have been fully vaccinated which is 52.37 percent of the region’s eligible population while 8,261,461 (85.50 percent) already received at least one dose.
Developed by the (DICT) for the Department of Health (DOH), “VaxCertPH is self-service web portal that utilizes the vaccination data submitted by LGUs through the VIMS.’’
It has a request and creation feature of the COVID-19 Digital Vaccination Certificate; generates a QR (quick response) code that authenticates the certificate.
The system also features where clients can request for updating of records if there are incorrect vaccination details or missing information.
Año noted that VaxCertPH complies with the guidelines issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the Digital Documentation of COVID-19 Certificate (DDC).
Under the program, Año said the LGUs should recognize and implement the VaxCertPH as the official proof of vaccination for local travels and assign or designate an LGU coordinator to answer inquiries and resolve record-related issues of vaccinations.
Earlier, the DILG issued Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 2021-095, enjoining the local chief executives (LCEs), DILG Regional Directors (RDs), and the Minister for the Local Government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to actively participate and support the trainings conducted by the DICT about VaxCertPH.
Under Republic Act (RA) No. 11525, otherwise known as the COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021, the DOH is tasked to issue COVID-19 vaccine cards to all persons who have gotten inoculated.
The DICT, in coordination with the DOH and DILG, was tasked to form a digital process that would certify that a person has been vaccinated in the country. (Chito A. Chavez)