Fully vaccinated seniors in GCQ, MGCQ zones now allowed to travel

MANILA – Fully vaccinated senior citizens residing in areas under general community quarantine (GCQ) and modified GCQ (MGCQ) can now enjoy more liberty despite the coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic after the government allowed them to leave their homes.

“The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, in a meeting held Thursday, agreed to allow senior citizens who already received two shots of Covid-19 vaccine to travel within their zone,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a press statement.

“The movement of fully vaccinated seniors is, however, limited to travel within their zone as interzonal travel is still prohibited, except for point-to-point travel that was previously allowed,” he added.

Roque said fully-vaccinated senior citizens who wish to travel should present duly issued Covid-19 vaccination card and strict observance of the minimum public health standards.

The IATF-EID’s decision came following the appeals to give fully vaccinated senior citizens a special privilege to enjoy more freedom, so long as they continue to heed the health protocols.

Senior citizens’ rights advocate and election lawyer Romulo Macalintal earlier said allowing fully vaccinated senior citizens to leave their residence would encourage more old people to receive Covid-19 vaccine jabs.

A person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the second dose of vaccine against Covid-19.

As of June, the Philippines has already administered a total of 6,096,208 vaccine doses to priority groups A1 (healthcare workers), A2 (senior citizens), A3 (persons with comorbidities), and A4 (economic front-liners).

Around 604,260 individuals have been fully vaccinated or have received both doses.

The country is expecting the delivery of a total of 11,058 vaccine vials this month.

Around 5.5 million of the 11,058,000 vaccines will come from Sinovac, one million from Sputnik, 250,000 from Moderna, 2.28 million from Pfizer-BioNTech, and 2.028 million from AstraZeneca.

The Philippine government’s goal is to inoculate up to 70 million this year to achieve population protection.