MANILA – In a radio interview on Friday, Pasay Mayor Emi Calixto-Rubiano mentioned the notion, saying she supports the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) call for a centralized database of vaccinated individuals to make verification easier.
“Mas maganda po kapag ginagamitan ng QR (quick response) code sapagkat hindi na kailangan pang mag-type ng pagkahaba-haba para lang mag-record o di kaya mag-verify (It is easier to use QR codes as there is no more need to type longer texts to record and it can be easily verified),” she said.
According to Rubiano, using a unified QR code system will make it simple to verify whether a vaccination card is legitimate or fake.
In Pasay, Rubiano stated that training on how to handle the vaccination database system, which would be linked to the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) for easy tracing and verification, is ongoing.
“Sa ngayon po ay nagti-train na kami ng mga staff upang sa ganoon ay maisama na sa software system na dini-develop ng DICT ang ating vaccination records at sa ganoon ay magiging madali na rin ang pag-input sa database (We are now training our staff so that our vaccination records can be included in the database developed by the DICT for easy input),” Rubiano said.
Previously, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) permitted interzonal travels of fully vaccinated individuals without providing negative swab test results.
Some municipal officials, however, questioned how the new protocols would be enforced if vaccination cards could not be validated.
Quirino Governor Dakila Cua, ULAP president, stated LGUs were not consulted about the rules.
Prior to the implementation of the IATF directive, he recommended a processing system that will check the authenticity of vaccination cards.
According to Cua, one of the possibilities being considered is the inclusion of the national ID number in the verification system.
While the IATF refines travel and quarantine regulations, LGUs retain the option of requiring a negative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction result before allowing entry.
