DAVAO CITY – The city government here will continue to require a RT-PCR negative result for inbound flight passengers, insisting that fully vaccinated persons are still susceptible to infection and could spread the Covid-19 virus to the locality.
Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said the city will shun the complacent attitude that fully vaccinated persons only need to present their vaccination cards to travel around the country.
Duterte-Carpio said fully vaccinated persons may sustain only mild to no symptoms at all when getting infected, but they would still be susceptible to contracting the virus, and thus will be carrying them around, too.
“The IATF (Inter Agency Task For the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases) initially said vaccination cards would be used but after two days, I think they said they would leave it up to the LGUs (local government units) so for us, we would still require the negative RT-PCR test result since fully vaccinated individuals could still be infected with Covid-19,” she said.
“The fully vaccinated person may still contract Covid-19; although the case may be mild or asymptomatic, he or she can still be a carrier of the virus. So it is still necessary to test the travelers,” she added.
This city has been implementing City Ordinance No. 0477-21, known as “An Ordinance Providing For Mandatory Testing Prior To Entry Into Davao City Via The Davao International Airport.”
The IATF, on July 2, issued its Resolution No. 124-B, which said interzonal travelers who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 may only be required to present proof of complete vaccination instead of a negative test result.
The IATF Resolution No. 124-B defines a fully vaccinated individual for Covid-19 as someone having received the second dose in a two-dose series for more than or equal to two weeks. The vaccines administered, however, must be included in the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) list or
Compassionate Special Permit (CSP) issued by the Philippine Food and Drug Administration or Emergency Use Listing of the World Health Organization
However, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a recent online media briefing that the IATF and LGUs have agreed that the recognition for the fully vaccinated will still be in effect. However, if LGUs think they still need to test their travelers based on risk assessment, they still have the authority to do so.
From November 13, 2020 to July 3, 2021, a total of 143 individuals were apprehended in Davao City for presenting fake RT-PCR test results.