At a glance

• Claim: The government is collecting vaccination cards so they can erase any vaccination records and protect vaccinators from legal liabilities.
• Rating: FALSE
• The facts: The Department of Health has instituted a digital platform where health facilities can upload information on individuals whom they have vaccinated. It doesn’t have to collect vaccination cards to copy the information contained in these. The National Privacy Commission has also advised that data collected in vaccination cards must abide by the Data Privacy Act.
• Why we fact-checked this: This claim was forwarded to Rappler via email for checking. As of writing, the post has gained over 3,100 reactions, 900 comments, and 4,300 shares across different public Facebook groups.

Complete details

A post has been circulating online, claiming that the government is collecting vaccination cards to record the details contained in these. The post also claims that the government is doing this to destroy vaccination records before they get sued. As of writing, the post has gained over 3,100 reactions, 900 comments, and 4,300 shares across different public Facebook groups.

This information is False.

The Department of Health (DOH) has instituted the Vaccination Immunization Management System – Immunization Registry (VIMS-IR), creating a masterlist of those who have been vaccinated. Health facilities would upload data on individuals they have vaccinated to this system, which would make the re-collection of vaccination cards unnecessary.

The National Privacy Commission has issued a memorandum, stating that since vaccination cards contain personal data, information collection must abide by the laws stated in the Data Privacy Act. Government agencies have been advised to collect information in a proper manner, as stated in DOH issuances. Any external systems to gather information may be used as long as it adheres to the prescribed data collection fields.

As of writing, there have been no reports of any local government units (LGUs) collecting and not returning vaccination cards.

The DOH has administered over 126 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, and has had over 52% of the population vaccinated with either two jabs or a single-dose vaccine. Since December 2021, all eligible adults have been qualified to take a booster shot. – Dylan Salcedo/Rappler.com

Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.