‘The matter of vaccine certification would not even be a problem in Hong Kong or elsewhere if the government anticipated this requirement, as vaccine certifications had been done, as long ago as 1935.’
EVERY country or territory has its own internal regulations in accepting incoming travelers in this time of the still-raging COVID-19 pandemic. This is understandable because every government is sworn to protect the interest of its constituents, and health issues share the same weight as security concerns in this regard.
The news might surprise us here in the Philippines when Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. informed us thru a tweet that “Our vaccination cards are not accepted in Hong Kong because they are not connected to a single source. Poor OFWs going to their jobs in Hong Kong even if jabbed.”
On its surface, the problem is simple. Our citizens are issued vaccination cards or certificates from the local government units or private groups (like the Philippine Red Cross) that gave the jabs. This is not enough for some foreign immigration officers, like in Hong Kong. They needed one agency in the Philippine government to do the certification.
So this is just one of those cases of not anticipating a possible problem. Now we are informed that the Department of Information Communication Technology (DICT) has been assigned to do the job, knowing that these cards or certifications should be digital in form, and computers are the best tools to track down a humongous list of vaccinated citizens.
What most Filipinos do not know is that we have a Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) which has been processing the International Certificate of Vaccination and Prophylaxis (ICV) commonly known as the “yellow card” which is recognized by the World Health
Organization (WHO). Consul General to Hong Kong Raly Tejada said the special administrative region is willing to accept our yellow cards provided these cards include the passport details of the holder.
This information reaching our Hong Kong-bound OFWs was enough for hundreds of applicants to swarm the Bureau of Quarantine offices and request their yellow cards with the right information details.
To remedy the crowding, BOQ Director Dr. Roberto Salvador asked the applicants for yellow cards to give way to those with immediate schedule to travel overseas. Those with not-so-urgent travel schedules can wait. The bureau has enough branches in the provinces and will open more satellite offices in Metro Manila this month to keep pace with the surge of applicants.
The matter of vaccine certification would not even be a problem in Hong Kong or elsewhere if the government anticipated this requirement, as vaccine certifications had been done, as long ago as 1935.
