THE Visayas Vaccination Operations Center (VVOC) reminded unvaccinated individuals to be truthful in their medical certificates and swab test results.
VVOC spokesperson Dr. Mary Jean Loreche said although there are exemptions from getting vaccinated, city health officers must scrutinize medical certificates.
“We pray that our doctors who will be issuing medical certificates of exemptions for vaccination are really telling the truth that their patients have contraindications for the vaccination,” Loreche said during her daily Project Balik Buhay briefing on Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021.
Loreche clarified that just because an individual is exempted from getting vaccinated, does not mean that he is also exempted from the requirement of the weekly submission of an RT-PCR result or antigen test result at his own expense.
Loreche also said there should be a system where there is checking of results which are valid and are made by institutions accredited to conduct the testing.
Loreche explained that if the test result or medical certificate is fake and manufactured, the unvaccinated person could be a carrier of the virus and could infect his household members.
In areas where there are sufficient supplies of Covid-19 vaccines, Covid-19 vaccination of eligible employees tasked to do on-site work shall now be required by all establishments and employers in the public and private sectors.
The Inter-Agency Task Force said eligible employees who remain unvaccinated may not be terminated but they shall be required to undergo regular RT-PCR or antigen testing at their own expense starting Dec. 1.
Public and private establishments may validly refuse entry and/or deny service to individuals who remain unvaccinated, or only partially vaccinated, despite being eligible for vaccination.
There are 12 RT-PCR testing facilities in Metro Cebu. Nine of these are private, two are under the government and one is by the Philippine Red Cross.
There is a price cap as mandated by the Department of Trade and Industry and Department of Health (DOH) at P3,200 for a test, while the cheapest at the DOH is at P901.