• More than 90 per cent of SAF and Mindef personnel will be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 by mid-July
• New recruits will be vaccinated ahead of BMT enlistment, unless they choose not to
• Prioritising vaccination is part of SAF’s strategy to deal with Covid-19 as an endemic disease, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said
• Large-scale army exercises such as Exercise Wallaby could be affected due to considerations of the host country 
• However, SAF’s transformation to a next-generation defence force remains on track, Dr Ng said

SINGAPORE — More than 90 per cent of the personnel in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and Ministry of Defence (Mindef) are on track to be fully vaccinated by mid-July as part of the ministry’s strategy to deal with Covid-19 as an endemic, rather than epidemic, disease.

Basic Military Training (BMT) recruits will also be inoculated as part of the enlistment process unless they opt out, for medical reasons, for example. The first batch of recruits to undergo this process enlisted on Tuesday (June 29).

Reaching such high levels of vaccination means that SAF has achieved herd immunity against the coronavirus, but it will continue to push for a “very high” vaccination rate of 95 per cent or even higher, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said on Monday.

This is so that there will be no disruption to National Service (NS) activities even if infections arise among SAF personnel, he added.

Speaking to reporters at Mandai Hill Camp ahead of SAF Day on Thursday, Dr Ng laid out the SAF’s three-pronged strategy of vaccination, testing and cohorting to respond to Covid-19 as an endemic disease, in line with the broader nation-wide response to the coronavirus.

Dr Ng said vaccination was the “mainstay” of the strategy against the coronavirus.

“(And) with an endemic disease, our assumption is not that there will not be Covid-19 cases within the SAF. You will have them but when the infection occurs, the measures that you take are much less than you would take in an epidemic.

“So even if infections arise in our soldiers going forward, we will not need to close the training schools like Basic Military Training Centre, Officer Cadet School or Specialist Cadet School,” he said.

NS activities have been disrupted to some extent over the last one-and-a-half years due to restrictions to control the spread of Covid-19 in Singapore.

BMT was suspended in April last year during the circuit breaker to restrict movements and activities. More recently, in-camp training (ICT) was deferred and the conduct of individual physical proficiency tests (IPPT) was suspended from May 18 to June 13 during the period of heightened alert.

OPERATING WITH A DISEASE THAT IS ENDEMIC

Dr Ng said that “a different mindset” is required for SAF to operate in an environment with an endemic disease. This is because while the risk of infection is reduced, it is not eliminated.

“Living with an endemic disease means that, fundamentally, we carry out our activities with the risk of infection always there.” 

However, he noted that this is not the first time that SAF has had to respond to a disease that was endemic. It had done so during the H1N1 outbreak in 2009, which was just as infectious but less deadly as compared to Covid-19.

At the time, SAF had continued with its activities and had not shut down any of its units.

VACCINATION 'MAIN MEASURE' AGAINST COVID-19

Dr Ng said that SAF’s “main measure” to reduce the level of infections would be through vaccinations.

For example, more than 90 per cent of BMT enlistees on Tuesday received their first dose of the vaccine from June 8 to 11. They will receive their second dose from July 10 to 16.

Recruits who choose not to be vaccinated will not be excluded from training, but will have to take precautions as they pose a risk to themselves, Dr Ng said.

When asked if there could ever be a scenario where SAF activities are disrupted despite vaccinations, Dr Ng said that this could occur if a more infectious and lethal Covid-19 variant emerges.

If the vaccine is not as effective against such a variant, SAF would have to recalculate the risks involved in keeping training schools or units open.

“But barring that exception, we can continue as we have done,” he said.

CONTINUING SELF-TESTING AND COHORTING

As more people get vaccinated, SAF can move towards the way it dealt with H1N1, which was through self-testing and self-isolation, Dr Ng said.

It is already conducting regular testing for its personnel on the frontlines and service personnel in medical centres.

Since last October, operationally ready national servicemen (NSmen) returning for ICT have also undergone routine swab-testing processes. NSmen in operational roles as well as BMT Centre trainers undergo weekly or fortnightly swab-testing as well.

“We are also looking at new technology to allow us to make testing much easier. This includes deep-throat saliva (and) rapid antigen test,” Dr Ng said.

With the chance of coronavirus infection still remaining, SAF will also keep its cohorting measures, where different groups of personnel work in separate teams of up to 40 people without meeting each other.

This means that if the personnel in one group is infected, only his or her unit will be shut down without affecting the rest of the team.

LARGE-SCALE ARMY EXERCISES COULD BE AFFECTED

While SAF has not stopped overseas training during the pandemic, some large-scale army exercises could be affected as they depend on whether the host country is willing and comfortable to host SAF, Dr Ng said.

For example, SAF is now waiting for the Australian authorities to give the green light for Exercise Wallaby to go ahead in Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Queensland.

Exercise Wallaby is SAF’s largest overseas exercise. The annual exercise, which typically takes place from September to November, was cancelled last year due to Covid-19.

Dr Ng said that he does not expect SAF to exercise at full capacity in Australia soon, given that various Australian cities are now in lockdown.

He acknowledged that training in Singapore will not provide the same experience as training overseas.

While smaller units may continue with modular training such as achieving firing accuracy, proficiency in large-scale manoeuvres will be more difficult to achieve without a large, overseas training base.

NEXT-GENERATION DEFENCE FORCE

Dr Ng said that SAF is not losing focus on its ambitions to transform itself into a next-generation defence force by 2040 despite the pandemic.

Providing an update on these efforts, he said that new assets of the Army’s Headquarters Sense and Strike based at Mandai Hill Camp have been commissioned on Monday.

These assets include the TPQ-53 Weapon Locating Radar, which can provide early warning of hostile rockets, artillery and mortar threats and the Belrex Protected Combat Support Vehicle (Mortar), which provides its operators protection against small-arm fires and mine blasts.

Dr Ng believes that SAF has done quite well in responding and helping to respond to Covid-19, even while it maintains the country’s security.

“We will have to deal with Covid-19 but make sure that we face our security challenges head on. And I am confident that we can do it.”