Palace: Quarantine protocol for fully vaccinated people from abroad stays pending global pact

The Philippine government is unlikely to change COVID-19 quarantine protocols for returning Filipinos who completed their COVID-19 vaccination abroad pending international pact on how to verify a vaccination card, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said.

Roque was responding to the flak that the government drew stemming from its decision to only allow reduced seven-day quarantine and scrapping of RT-PCR test for inbound travelers to the Philippines who got vaccinated against COVID-19 in the Philippines. 

"The problem is, wala pa pong kasunduan ang buong daigdig to verify the authenticity of vaccination cards," Roque said during the ceremonial vaccination for A4 priority group. 

(We do not have a global pact yet as to how to verify authenticity of vaccination cards.) 

"Kinakailangang ang buong daigdig eh magkaroon ng international agreement on standard vaccination certification para malaman natin kung totoo o peke ang vaccination card," he added.

(There should be an international standard in determining if the vaccination card is authentic or otherwise.)

Having said that, Roque then said that protocols for fully vaccinated individuals is a major concern that the government wants to resolve as soon as possible.

"We are discussing ways how to deal with the fully vaccinated people," he added. —KG, GMA News