The Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) will set up an express lane for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who will apply for an International Certificate of Vaccination (ICV) or the “yellow card.”
In a television interview last Monday, BOQ Deputy Director Roberto Salvador said the measure aims to make it more convenient for OFWs, who are already scheduled to leave for abroad to process their ICVs.
To qualify for the special lane, he said the OFWs will have to present their overseas employment certificate (OEC) and flight confirmation.
An OEC is a document issued by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to people who would like to work abroad. ‘
BOQ came out with the special lane amid the large number of Filipinos applying for the ICVs to serve as proof they have been fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
It serves as substitute to the vaccine certificates, which are issued by local government units (LGU) and not recognized abroad.
The government is already trying to remedy the situation by coming up with the centralized masterlist of locally issued vaccine certificate through the Department of Information and Communication Technology’s (DICT) VaxCertPH portal and mobile app.
The certificates issued using the VaxCertPH is expected to be recognized abroad since it passed the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Salvador said they hope the ICV will be eventually integrated in the VaxCertPH system.
Image courtesy of Nonie Reyes