• Questions on Singapore’s vaccination exercise will dominate the Jan 4 Parliament sitting 
• The co-chairs of the Covid-19 governmental task force will also give an update on Singapore’s pandemic response
• MPs are also concerned about other issues, including the error at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital that led to breast cancer patients possibly getting unnecessary treatment 

SINGAPORE — The nuts and bolts of Singapore’s exercise to vaccinate its population against Covid-19, public attitudes towards the vaccines as well as measures to ward off a new, potentially more contagious variant of the coronavirus are among the issues set to dominate the first sitting of Parliament in the new year.

Nine of the 99 parliamentary questions tabled for the session next Monday (Jan 4) are related to the vaccines, based on the parliamentary order paper released on Thursday.

During the debate, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong and Education Minister Lawrence Wong will deliver the third update on the whole-of-Government response to the pandemic. The first and second updates were given in February and May. 

The two ministers chair a multi-ministry task force overseeing Singapore’s response to the pandemic.

Aside from the coronavirus, other topics set to feature in the debate include the slip-ups at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital’s laboratory, which led to about 180 breast cancer patients possibly being misdiagnosed with a type of malfunctioning gene in the past eight years. Half of them may also have received unnecessary treatment.

In next Monday’s sitting, several Members of Parliament (MPs) will press the Government for more details about the vaccine roll-out as well as the safety of the jabs. 

On Wednesday, 40 healthcare workers at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases received the first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the only one approved for use in Singapore right now. 

The city-state expects to inoculate everyone who wishes to be vaccinated by the end of next year.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak, an MP for Sembawang Group Representation Constituency (GRC), and Mr Louis Chua of Sengkang GRC want to know the number of Covid-19 vaccines that have been secured for Singapore’s population. 

Mr Chua, who is from the opposition Workers’ Party (WP), also asked whether people would be given autonomy to decide on the type of vaccine they get when more than one vaccine receives the regulatory nod. 

WP chairman Sylvia Lim of Aljunied GRC will query Mr Gan about the criteria that the Health Sciences Authority uses to assess Covid-19 vaccines before approval for public use and the benchmarks for efficacy.

Ms Cheng Li Hui of Tampines GRC intends to ask about the plans to deal with severe side-effects that may arise from vaccination as well as the recourse that Singaporeans have if they experience such side-effects.

Bukit Batok MP Murali Pillai, meanwhile, has filed a question on the measures in place to combat the new B117 variant of the virus that is raging through the United Kingdom. Singapore confirmed the first case of the strain — which is believed to be up to 70 per cent more contagious — last week. 

Mr Alex Yam of Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC is concerned about public attitudes towards vaccination. 

He will ask Communications and Information Minister S Iswaran whether the authorities are carrying out any research into this matter and how they plan to engage residents across various demographics.

The blunder at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital has also captured the attention of MPs, with five tabling questions on the incident.  

Dr Lim of Sembawang GRC will ask about the cost of medication incurred by patients who were misdiagnosed and how many of them suffered side-effects as a result of being given the wrong treatment.

Ms Joan Pereira of Tanjong Pagar GRC wants to know what is being done to prevent similar incidents.

Away from healthcare, MPs tabled a range of questions on various topics, including the plan to live-stream Parliament proceedings. 

Ms Tin Pei Ling (MacPherson) asked for an update on the plan, which Mr Iswaran announced in September.

He said then that the Government agreed in principle to live-stream parliamentary debates and would be working through the mechanics of how it could be rolled out.

Several MPs also asked about the TraceTogether contact-tracing tool.  

Mr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC) asked if data from the application would be used for criminal investigations and, if so, what the legal provisions and safeguards are when using such data.

Mr Chua from Sengkang GRC also tabled a question on the High-Speed Rail project, which is meant to link Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur with Singapore.

He asked about the costs that Singapore has incurred so far on the project and the terms of compensation claims between the two countries if either party terminates the multibillion-dollar plan.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Malaysian counterpart Muhyiddin Yassin held a video conference call on the status of the project.

The discussion was held in view of the Dec 31 deadline for the second round of suspension of the project. The prime minister’s offices of both countries said that more information on the High-Speed Rail project would be announced in “due course”.

Last month, Malaysian news outlet Free Malaysia Today reported that the project was expected to continue without Singapore’s participation.

Singapore’s Ministry of Transport then said that the bilateral deal was a legally binding international agreement. The Republic continues to believe that the project is beneficial for both countries and is fully committed to fulfilling its obligations under the agreement, it added.