TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Nov. 2 (PIA) -- An official of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) here has asked local government units to fast track the uploading of their vaccination data in the website. 

DILG Provincial Director Jerome Gonzales issued the call in view of reports of the proliferation of fake travel documents of inbound passengers to Bohol. 

Gonzales' call also became more relevant when Gov. Arthur Yap issued Executive Order No 52, series of 2021, which lifted the costly requirement of presenting a negative for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test result through Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) for fully vaccinated individuals entering Bohol.

In private hospitals and clinics, an RT-PCR test can cost as high as P3,800 to P2,800 and this has to be taken 72 hours prior to travel. 

Obtaining the valid and authenticated vaccination certificate can be done through www.vaxcert.doh.gov.ph.

However, some travelers who have been fully vaccinated have reported that their records are not found in the said website. 

This as some local government units (LGUs) have yet to upload their vaccination data into the Vaccination Administration System set up by the Department of Information Communication and Technology (DICT). 

According to the DICT, vaccination information should be encoded and uploaded through the portal vaslinelist.dict.gov.ph created for this specific data.

But for LGUs, lack of technical manpower at a time when its resources are utilized for vaccination operations have been their reason for failure to upload the data.

DILG said LGUs must fast track the data encoding and uploading as people are now poised to travel with the quarantine restrictions being eased. 

If the travel is necessary and could not wait for the process, the Bohol Inter Agency Task Force suggests travelers to approach the Rural Health Unit or health facility where they received their vaccine shot and ask their encoders to upload the needed data for generation of the vaccine certificate for immediate travel.  (RAHC/PIA7 Bohol)