Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21)— The Inter-Agency Task Force leading the government’s pandemic response has created a panel to study and come up with protocols for the entry of fully vaccinated individuals to the Philippines, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque announces.
Roque said two agencies will lead the study.
“Bumuo ng small working group na magaaral at gagawa ng protocols para sa inbound international travel ng fully vaccinated individuals to be chaired by the Department of Tourism and co-chaired ng Department of Foreign Affairs,” Roque said in a briefing.
[Translation: A small working group was created to study and formulate protocols for inbound international travel of fully vaccinated individuals to be chaired by the Department of Tourism and co-chaired by the Department of Foreign Affairs.]
The DOT said separately it has proposed to the IATF the possibility of setting up a ‘green lane’ that will facilitate the entry of foreign visitors who have completed their COVID-19 vaccination.
“The Green Lane will pave the way for the reopening of our tourist destinations to leisure travelers who are now fully vaccinated. It will give the jobs back to many of our tourism workers and gradually revive the tourism industry under safe conditions,” Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat said in a statement.
In a separate interview with CNN Philippines, Puyat clarified the proposal only seeks to lower the required quarantine days for fully vaccinated inbound travelers. She added the proposal is still at an “exploratory” phase.
“We wanted to discuss… that maybe for fully vaccinated, if it’s possible to lower the quarantine days. Not 10 days, it could be 7 days,” Puyat told News Night, citing developments in neighboring countries like Thailand and Hong Kong.
“But these are all talks. Nothing is set in stone, it’s just exploratory, but of course, we have to be ready,” she added.
Puyat said the department is also looking at discussing guidelines on domestic travel for fully vaccinated individuals.
Can vaccinated senior citizens go to the malls?
Meanwhile, the IATF will look into the proposal to allow senior citizens who have completed their COVID-19 vaccination to visit malls.
“Antayin po muna natin na tuluyang ma-vaccinate na ang lahat ng ating mga seniors at pag-aaralan naman po natin kung pupwede na,” Roque said.
[Translation: Let’s wait for all seniors to be vaccinated first and then we will study if it can be allowed.]
Currently, seniors are only allowed to go out to access essential goods and services and physically register for the national ID system. Experts said senior citizens have a high risk of being severely ill if they catch the coronavirus.
