The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) has scrapped its vaccination requirement for participants in face-to-face (F2F) classes, its chairman said on Monday.
“Students and HEI (higher education institution) personnel, regardless of vaccination status, can participate in F2F classes,” CHEd Chairman Prospero de Vera III said in a media briefing.
De Vera said the CHEd made the move as the country’s Covid-19 cases had been decreasing.
He also noted a “very high” vaccination rate among HEI personnel and students.
“Based on the data reported by our public and private universities, in higher education, we have a very high vaccination rate, as high as 90 percent for HEI personnel and close to 80 percent or about 77 percent for our students,” he said.
The CHEd ordered in March 2022 that only fully vaccinated individuals could participate in F2F classes.
Just last Monday, the Public Attorney’s Office, headed by the Covid-19 vaccine denier Persida Acosta, urged the CHEd to repeal the requirement and allow unvaccinated students and teachers in F2F classes.
The Department of Education, CHEd’s basic education counterpart, is allowing unvaccinated individuals to participate in F2F classes. John Ezekiel J. Hirro