Vaccinated individuals may not be exempted yet from travel protocols —Duque

Individuals vaccinated against COVID-19 may not be exempted yet from travel protocols set by the government as there is currently no sufficient data showing that the available vaccines can prevent virus transmission.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III made the remark on Monday during the House committee on health inquiry into the government's COVID-19 vaccination program.

Duque said that while the available COVID-19 vaccines may prevent the occurrence of mild to severe symptoms of the disease, there is no sufficient evidence yet that they can prevent the transmission of the novel coronavirus from one person to another.

"Right now the policy of the IATF, based on the recommendation of our experts, is that they (vaccinated individuals) will continue to follow all these existing protocols," he said.

"They will not be exempted just because they have been vaccinated because as earlier pointed out, it is not yet clear nor there is sufficient body of evidence or data to show that the vaccines can actually prevent transmission," he added.

Dr. Edsel Salvaña, a member of the Department of Health's technical advisory group, echoed Duque's statement and said that vaccinated individuals may only travel freely if the vaccine they took is proven to be "100% transmission blocking."

"Yun talaga 'yung problem e. Kasi even like for Moderna, right now, what limited evidence we have is maybe it prevents two-thirds of asymptomatic infection. May one-third pa rin 'yun, so hindi pa rin tayo makakasigurado," he said.

"Remember, it only takes one transmission to start another cluster na super-spreader event. So it's not necessarily getting everybody vaccinated. It's more important that we have a transmission blocking vaccine which for now, we don't have that data yet," he added.

Despite the relaxing of the quarantine classifications in many areas in the country, several destinations, especially those that thrive on tourism activities like Boracay and Baguio City, still implement strict travel protocols.

These include a mandatory negative COVID-19 test result, wearing of face mask and face shield at all times, and strict observance of physical distancing.

The Philippines targets to inoculate 50 to 70 million individuals within the year, and an estimated 50,000 is expected to be vaccinated in February.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said the vaccine manufactured by American corporation Pfizer could be the first that will be used against COVID-19 in the country as the COVAX Facility will have an early rollout of the said brand.—AOL, GMA News