A global agreement may be needed for a standard vaccination certificate to ease international travels, a Palace official said on Monday.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made the statement following criticisms on the new policy of the government requiring Philippine vaccinated individuals who traveled abroad and return to the country to still undergo a seven-day quarantine without taking RT-PCR test, except for those showing COVID-19 symptoms.

"During the weekend, many have critized (the government for the new policy) and they were asking that there should be no more quarantine for Filipinos, especially those vacationing, when they return," he said.

Roque said he was just the spokesperson of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease and he was merely relaying the government's policies.

He also said there is still a need to quarantine vaccinated individuals because there is no global agreement on how to verify the authenticity of the vaccination cards.

"In my personal opinion, one who taught international law in UP (University of the Philippines) for 15 years, there might be a need to have an international agreement if there is a need to have a standard certificate vaccination certificate so that it won't be a problem to authenticate if the vaccination card is true or fake," Roque said.

He said that the IATF will continue to discuss the arrival protocols and could make further adjustments as the government started the vaccination of the economic frontliners or the A4 priority group.

The official also expressed belief that there could be a chance i the future for the world to come up with an agreement on what to do with those who have been vaccinated. Celerina Monte/DMS