A new, updated vaccine certificate guidelines for inbound and outbound travelers has been released by the Department of Health (DOH)
According to the new guidelines, vaccination status and vaccination certificates for COVID-19 are no longer required for international arrivals.
“All arriving international travelers are accepted regardless of their vaccination status,” the DOH said in a news release.
The DOH is urging departing international travelers to check on the vaccine certificate requirements of the country of their destination.
The DOH further said for overseas Filipino workers and seafarers, the issuance of the International Certificate of Vaccination for Prophylaxis for Yellow Fever Vaccine and other vaccinations depends on the requirement of their agency or company.
The DOH meanwhile said bivalent COVID vaccines can now be used as initial boosters.
DOH Undersecretary Enrique Tayag in an ABS-CBN News report said bivalent vaccines could now be administered as a first or second booster, apart from being used as a third booster for priority sectors.
Tayag, quoted by ABS-CBN News, said, “what we did to speed up the vaccination, at first, it was only for frontline health workers. Now all health workers can avail of it. Number 2, all seniors. Third, the immunocompromised. Then at first, it was just for the third booster. Now, if you don’t have the first and second booster, you can use the bivalent COVID vaccine.”
Bivalent vaccines offer better protection against COVID-19 because they target both the original and Omicron strains of the virus, the DOH said.
The DOH has so far administered 49 percent or nearly half of the 390,000 bivalent COVID vaccine doses donated by Lithuania to the Philippines. It expects to use it all up by mid-September.
“Of the 390,000 doses that the Philippines received from Lithuania, the bivalent COVID vaccine, our vaccine coverage is at 49 percent, according to our quick count. Because of this, it could take nearly a month for the 390,000 doses to be used up. That is based on our daily average of 6,000 doses that we give all over the Philippines,” Tayag said.
While the DOH is fast-tracking the rollout of the donated bivalent COVID jabs, Tayag clarified that the vaccines’ expiry date is still 5 months away or on January 2024.
“That’s for us to easily request for a subsequent donation from the COVAX facility. Because what we really need is 1.5 to 2 million doses. All we received was 390,000. We can’t buy anymore, so we rely on donations,” the official said.