Negros Occidental Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said today, March 2, that he is proposing to Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson that those who agree to be vaccinated first against COVID-19 be given passports that will allow them free travel to wherever they want to go.
“This is a way of giving them an incentive for being among the first to be vaccinated,” he said.
Hopefully, the passports will draw more people to be vaccinated because a lot already want to travel and go on vacation, he added.
Diaz said he hopes that the vaccine passport will enable one to enter any part of the country without restrictions, such as RT-PCR tests and quarantines.
He is also encouraging the national government to get in touch with other countries to grant holders of vaccine passports entry “unconditionally,” Diaz said.
“If we get the nod of Gov. Bong Lacson we will use it to inspire people to get the first doses of vaccines,” Diaz said.
He said 100,000 Negrenses to be granted vaccine passports would be a good target.
“We want our people protected and to resume their regular economic and social lives,” he said.
Diaz said he does not know yet when Negros Occidental will get its allocation of Sinovac vaccines.
Even if Negros Occidental does not get Sinovac vaccines, another batch of Astra Zeneca vaccines will arrive in the third week of March, he said.
However, if vaccines come from the national government soon they are very much welcome, the provincial government is ready for the vaccination of health care frontliners, he added.*