A party-list lawmaker asked Congress to expedite the passage of a measure that would create a globally recognized national vaccination passport for Filipinos fully vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Ang Probinsyano Party-list Representative Ronnie Ong made the appeal after reports that overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were denied entry in Hong Kong because immigration authorities refused to recognize their locally issued vaccination cards.
Ong said such an incident should raise the urgency to have an internationally recognized and credible Covid-19 vaccination passport for all fully vaccinated Filipinos.
“I’ve already anticipated that having these vaccination passports or other forms of proof of vaccination will be the new normal in our travels and this is the reason why I filed HB 8280 months before the first batch of vaccines reached us,” the legislator said.
The lawmaker argued that Hong Kong authorities should not be blamed for refusing to recognize the vaccination cards presented by the inbound OFWs because there is really no way of verifying the authenticity of their documents.
“Matagal na dapat binigyan solusyon ito.”
“Had the government been more proactive in creating a national vaccination database and national vaccination card, our embattled OFWs in Hong Kong would have been allowed entry without any problem. Matagal na dapat binigyan solusyon ito pero hinintay pang maging problema bago na-address yung issue,” he said.
Ong said the Hong Kong government has every right to stop the entry of foreigners to protect their citizens from the further spread of COVID-19.
“This will soon be as important as our driver’s license under the new normal.”
“Therefore, it is very important that we have credible proof of vaccination or a vaccination passport because I am sure this will soon be as important as our driver’s license under the new normal,” Ong said.
He said that in the absence of a globally recognized vaccination passport, the government should at least expedite the creation of a national vaccination database that could allow immigration authorities around the world to verify and authenticate the various versions of vaccination cards that are issued to vaccinated Filipinos.
This database, Ong said, should have been put together by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) as soon as the government started its vaccination program.
