Senator Leila de Lima filed a resolution prodding the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to hasten the creation of a national vaccine database which will serve as a tool to verify an individual’s vaccination status.
Senate Resolution 857 urges the DICT to coordinate with the Department of Health and the local government units and act on the national vaccine database to avoid falsification and ensure swift verification of one’s inoculation, especially overseas Filipino workers.
“The absence of a central and national database and system of releasing of vaccination cards by LGUs, which do not have a uniform design, contributes to the challenge of efficiently identifying authentic vaccination cards and confirming if an individual has been really inoculated with COVID-19 vaccines,” De Lima said.
“While there have been several efforts to improve the security features of LGU-issued vaccination cards by several local chief executives, the lack of a standard verification system in place continues to make vaccination cards even more susceptible to counterfeiting or illegal replication,” she added.
She cited the incident in Muntinlupa City, where several computer shops are allegedly faking and selling COVID-19 vaccination cards.
“It was ‘chaotic’ for LGUs, as they had to create their own style. It is further claimed that DICT’s supposed task of issuing digital vaccination cards remained as a mere ‘plan’. To date, each city in Metro Manila has its own designs and styles of vaccination card,” De Lima underscored.
She likewise noted Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.’s earlier announcement that Hong Kong is not accepting the locally-issued vaccination cards as these are not connected to a “single source.”
Apart from these, De Lima mentioned the case of an individual who has received two full doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in Mandaluyong City attempted and successfully received his third or booster shot in Quezon City last August 13.
“This apparent gap between what is required by law and what is happening before our eyes will create a major backlog and more problems in the near future as more Filipinos are beginning to travel abroad for work,” she said.
“The availability of a centralized database of COVID-19 vaccinations will allow law enforcement units to efficiently identify and verify the truthfulness of presented vaccination cards, discourage and apprehend individuals who are faking said documents, and sustain the progress and efforts that the government has made in the vaccination program,” she added. — DVM, GMA News
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