SINGAPORE — A day after the authorities announced an expansion of the national vaccination exercise to Singaporeans aged 12 to 39, the Ministry of Health (MOH) told TODAY on Friday (June 11) that 73,000, or almost three-quarters, of the 100,000 people who received invitations by phone message have made appointments to get their vaccinations.

Among them was Mr Hairol Salim, 36, who has registered to get his first dose of the Moderna vaccine this Sunday at Buona Vista Community Club.

He said that he knew of some friends who did not get the short message service (SMS) invitations and were frustrated by it.

The marketing manager added: “It is a matter of time before almost everyone needs to get vaccinated. I hope that we can resume travel and return to some level of normalcy soon, and getting vaccinated is one of the things that needs to be done in order to achieve that.”

The Government's Covid-19 task force announced on Thursday that Singaporeans aged 12 to 39 can register for an appointment to receive a Covid-19 vaccine from Friday. Singaporeans in this age group get a two-week priority window to book their appointments.

Following the announcement, Mr Hansen Sun, received an SMS and the 29-year-old public servant registered right away and managed to get vaccinated on Friday afternoon at Hong Kah North Community Club.

Mr Sun said: “Since I am not part of any priority groups, I was surprised that I got my appointment slot so fast and I went ahead to book because waiting around will slow down overall efforts and in turn, slow down the reopening of our communities.”

Mr Shaun Ho, who also received a vaccination invitation, said that he registered for one of the earlier appointment slots available at Clementi Community Centre on June 22.

The 35-year-old operations manager told TODAY that he was feeling “forgotten and had fomo (a fear of missing out)” before Thursday since other age groups had received priority before those in his age range. However, he was glad that he got his SMS invitation shortly.

The father of two children aged four and six added: “I just want to protect the people around me, especially when I have a young family.”

MOH also told TODAY that more SMS invitations will be sent out progressively as more vaccination slots are made available for booking.