The New Guidelines for Fully Vaccinated Individuals Who Wish to Travel

As of July 7, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III canceled the initial plan of allowing fully vaccinated individuals to present their vaccination card instead of negative COVID-19 test results when traveling within the country. Duque adds that local government leaders will still need to finalize this method covering procedures of identifying authentic vaccination cards. A vaccine management information system is also currently being developed by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

The guidelines cover those vaccinated with their second dose or two-dose vaccine for at least two weeks. The same applies to those who have received a single-dose vaccine. In addition, the administered vaccine should be registered under the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) list in the Philippines that is issued by the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Few examples of these said vaccines include Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sinovac, and Covovax.

Under the new protocols, fully vaccinated individuals will no longer need to present negative COVID-19 test results when they travel within the country. Also, fully vaccinated residents and senior citizens will be allowed to conduct interzonal movement—which means they can enter establishments and avail services in areas under the same community quarantine classification.

Meanwhile, individuals, services, and goods traveling across areas under different quarantine classifications, called an intrazonal movement, will also be allowed for fully vaccinated persons and senior citizens. Still, they are limited only to areas under general community quarantine (GCQ) and modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).

If swab results are required for entry to the destination, vaccination cards can be used as alternatives.

Suppose a fully vaccinated individual is exposed to a confirmed case of COVID-19 or has close contacts of probable cases. In that case, the person may undergo quarantine for seven days if asymptomatic consistently for the entire quarantine period. However, the local government unit might still conduct tests on the fully vaccinated individuals during this time. Roque adds that this should be done not earlier than the fifth day since the last exposure.

Those who have exposure and traced beyond the seventh day from the last contact and remain asymptomatic will not be required to undergo testing and quarantining.

However, testing and quarantining will be required for symptomatic fully-vaccinated individuals.

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