MANILA – Fully-vaxxed and planning to visit Boracay? You must still be negative for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), according to Malay, Aklan’s Acting Mayor Frolibar Bautista.
Bautista said they opted to keep the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) requirement, suspecting that some might resort into tampering their vaccination cards.
“They are still required to submit a negative RT-PCR test result even if they already have vaccination cards,” Bautista said at the Laging Handa virtual briefing on Friday.
It will be status quo until such time Boracay can have a system for the validation of vaccination cards, added Bautista.
On Thursday, Health secretary Francisco Duque III said local government units (LGUs) still have the option to require negative RT-PCR test results to tourists.
The Boracay announcement came following a July 2 Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) resolution allowing fully vaccinated people to forego their RT-PCR test results in inter and intrazonal travel.
Tourism chief Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, meanwhile, said Aklan’s decision to require RT-PCR tests cannot be considered as a setback to the island’s recovery.
“Ang importante is nag-start na tayo sa vaccination. Ang sinabi naman ni governor na once ma-perfect na nila na walang mamemeke. Mas maganda nga ‘yon at least slow but sure,” said Romulo-Puyat.
On July 3, the island received 3,000 first doses of China-made CoronaVac vaccines. A ceremonial vaccination was held on July 7. Ten representatives from various tourism workers’ associations accredited by the local government of Malay participated in the activity./PN
