Press Release
July 1, 2021

Gordon comments on IATF's additional requirements

During the press conference of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) yesterday, June 30, 2021, PRC Chairman and CEO Sen. Richard Gordon commented on the "additional requirements set by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) for incoming fully vaccinated OFWs from "low risk" countries.

Sen. Gordon read guideline number 3 from Resolution No. 123-C, series of 2021, which states that:

3. Fully vaccinated individuals shall carry the following as proof of their vaccination status:

(i.) Those fully vaccinated in the Philippines must carry their vaccination card which should be verified prior to their departure by a certification issued through the Certificate of Vaccination Record Portal of the Department of Information and Communications Technology or the City Health Officer of the local government unit which administered the full vaccination; or

(ii.) Those fully vaccinated in countries/jurisdictions outside the Philippines must carry their official documentation of full vaccination validated through the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLO), or present their International Certificate of Vaccination, whichever is applicable.

(iii.) The aforementioned documents must be presented to the dedicated Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) representative for re-verification at the Department of Transportation One-Stop-Shop (OSS) upon arrival in the Philippines;

"The vaccination card should suffice as proof. The pandemic situation is hard enough as it is, we should not make it harder for people especially if they are already fully vaccinated," Chairman Gordon commented. "Imagine having to go through two more agencies when the government is already burdened with too many records and processes in relation to COVID."

The PRC Chair previously sent a letter addressed to the IATF Chief Implementer, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., last June 14 urging an ease of the quarantine protocols for all fully vaccinated overseas Filipinos returning to the country. This was acknowledged by the task force who issued a shorter 7-day quarantine starting July 1, 2021 for incoming OFWs from countries classified as low risk by the Department of Health (DoH)

Chairman Gordon and the Red Cross have been working with the IATF since the beginning of the pandemic when the latter supported the task force in swab testing.

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