BUTUAN CITY -- The Department of Health (DOH), together with the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Caraga Region and the local government unit (LGU) of Butuan has launched the first VaxCertPH booth in Caraga Region on Friday, November 26. 

Butuanons and residents from neighboring areas who are fully vaccinated can now acquire a certificate of their vaccination in the said booth, which is located at the third level of SM City Butuan. 

According to DOH-Caraga regional director Dr. Cesar Cassion, the booth accommodates anyone but most especially overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and international travellers who will need a vaccine certificate to travel.

"As you know, we are continuing the rollout of our vaccination so many vaccinated individuals are in need of their certification, especially the OFWs," said Dr. Cassion. 

The booth is also a big help to those who do not have internet connectivity or devices to log into the VaxCertPH portal, DICT-Caraga assistant regional director Engr. Leo Ugto said. 

"Not everyone has a gadget, has an internet [connection], or even 'techie'. So with the VaxCert booth, citizens can be assisted by the staff from the LGU manning the booth and help them upload their information and even correct any error in the information noted in the LGU's database," he said. 

Because it is portable and secured, the digital vaccination certificate can be accessed anytime and saved in their own devices over the vaccination card, a more convenient alternative of the vaccination card which may not be retrieved once lost.  

DILG Undersecretary for Plans, Public Affairs, and Communication Jonathan Malaya also graced the event to participate in the inauguration of the booth and promote the use of digital vaccination certificates. 

"This is a big thing because we want to standardize the vaccination certificates of our countrymen. Which is why we set-up a booth so that our citizens can get their certificates immediately if their information cannot be accessed in the portal," he said. 

"This is a public service booth that would expedite the issuance of the vaccination card for those people whose data has not been encoded in the system,” he added. 

The creation of a digital vaccination certificate is the government's initiative to create one standard vaccination document that can also be saved in personal devices. 

USec. Malaya said that the generation of vaccination certificates is part of the country's negotiation for reciprocity in recognizing the validity of the said document and will eventually replace the yellow card issued by the Bureau of Quarantine. 

The digital certificates can also be used for domestic travel, with the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for COVID-19 approving its use recently through the IATF Resolution No. 146.

However, there has been a failure of generating the certificates due to the encoding backlogs experienced by LGUs, the undersecretary said.  

"We want VaxCert to succeed. That is why I'd like to appeal to the LGU of Butuan to expedite the encoding of [the information] of those who have been vaccinated. Because the more backlogs we have, the more failures in the generation of digital certificates," said USec. Malaya. (DMNR/PIA-Caraga)