MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said the dry-run for digital COVID vaccination certificates will begin next month, with priority to be given to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Metro Manila.
The nationwide launch of the VaxCertPH website and app would follow in a few weeks, with full implementation possibly by October this year, Undersecretary Emmanuel Rey. R. Caintic said at a hearing in the House of Representatives on Friday (Aug. 27).
The DICT faced earlier calls to hasten the rollout of digital vaccine certificates and the issue was deemed urgent especially for OFWs returning to work.
Problems emerged earlier this month for thousands of OFWs bound for Hong Kong after the special administrative region said it would not recognize non-standardized vaccination cards such as those issued by local government units in the Philippines.
During the hearing, Caintic described the September launch as a dry-run that would be limited to Metro Manila.
“We need a few weeks to see the capacity of the overall system and the people behind it,” Caintic said.
VaxCertPH would then be rolled out nationwide, allowing individuals to access their own COVID vaccine certificates.
This was also crucial given the growing number of vaccinated individuals.
In his presentation, Caintic said a total of 13.28 million Filipino had received their second dose while 17.81 million had received their first dose.
Moreover, some 406,874 vaccine jabs were being administered daily.
VaxCertPH mainly relies on data submitted by LGUs through the vaccination information management system or VIMS. DICT developed the system and will manage it for the Department of Health.
LGUs can use manual processes to submit the data or adopt the DICT-Vaccination Administration System, or D-VAS, for automated vaccine reporting and recording.
Caintic said large cities such as San Juan, Pasay and Caloocan were among 100 LGUs that were currently using D-VAS. He said around 1,300 out of 1,600 LGUs had participated in its road shows.