• If all goes well, Singapore will complete its vaccination programme as scheduled by the end of the year, said Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary
• Close to 500,000 of those aged 45 to 59 registered for their vaccinations since March 24, so it “may take some time” for them to receive their invitations, he added
• Those who registered but have not been invited yet can expect to receive the SMS by mid-May and a booking slot by early June

SINGAPORE — The Government intends to begin inviting residents under the age of 45 to book their Covid-19 vaccination slots in June, Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary said in Parliament on Monday (April 5).

And if all goes well, Singapore will complete the national vaccination programme, as scheduled, by the end of the year, he added.

Dr Puthucheary was responding to eight Members of Parliament (MPs) who had posed questions related to the vaccination schedule.

On March 24, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced that it was extending the national Covid-19 vaccination programme to younger age groups, starting with those aged between 45 and 59.

Dr Puthucheary said that since that announcement, close to 500,000, or about half, of this age group have registered for their vaccinations.

However, due to the “strong response”, he said that it “may take some time” for those who have registered to receive the invitations through SMS to make appointments for their vaccination.

He said that only about 17 per cent of eligible individuals in this age bracket have received the vaccination or booked their appointments to date.

MOH expects the rest to receive the SMS by the middle of May, and they can expect a booking slot by early June, Dr Puthucheary added.

As of Saturday, around 1.05 million individuals here had received at least one dose of the vaccine, of whom more than 468,000 individuals have received their second dose and completed the full vaccination regimen.

Among those who have received the Covid-19 vaccination or booked their vaccination appointments are some 60 per cent of eligible seniors aged 70 and above, and close to 70 per cent of eligible seniors aged 60 to 69.

Among the eight MPs to submit questions on the topic was Workers’ Party chairman Sylvia Lim who asked about the proportion of people whose bid to be vaccinated have been rejected due to them failing the pre-vaccination questionnaire.

Ms Lim asked the question as she wanted to know how MOH is adjusting its vaccination plans to minimise the wastage of vaccines.

In response, Dr Puthucheary said that the authorities estimate that about 1 per cent of those who turned up were rejected because of concerns about allergies and contra-indications.

But such cases do not result in vaccine wastage, he said.

Noting that unopened vials can be stored at the vaccination sites for at least three days, he said: “We closely monitor the appointment bookings and historical take-up rate, and deliver the appropriate number of vaccine doses to the vaccination sites.”

To avoid wastage, vaccination site providers will start a new vial only when they have checked that there are individuals awaiting vaccination, he added.

MP for West Coast Group Representation Constituency (GRC) Foo Mee Mar asked if there could be a standby queue at vaccination centres to allow interested individuals to take the place of those who do not turn up for their scheduled vaccination.

Dr Puthucheary said that close to 98 per cent of those who booked appointments for the vaccinations in the last 30 days showed up for their appointments.

Pre-planned lists of individuals will be invited to be vaccinated to utilise any remaining balance in a multi-dose vial at the end of each day to further minimise wastage, he added.

“These could be staff who are working at the vaccination sites or frontline volunteers who have an active role in engaging seniors on vaccinations,” he said.

WILL TALKS TO RESTORE HK-SINGAPORE TRAVEL BUBBLE BE JEOPARDISED?

MP for West Coast GRC Ang Wei Neng asked whether Hong Kong’s recent imposition of a two-week ban on Singapore Airlines (SIA) flights departing from the Republic would affect travel bubble discussions between Hong Kong and Singapore.

The ban was invoked on Saturday after one passenger who arrived in Hong Kong via an SIA flight was confirmed to be infected with Covid-19, while three passengers were found to have breached rules of entry to Hong Kong.

Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung said the episode would not affect talks to restore the air travel bubble, stressing that the suspension came about due to “technical reasons”.

The travel bubble between Singapore and Hong Kong was due to start on Nov 22, but was postponed after a number of unlinked cases emerged in Hong Kong.

Mr Ong said the positive case might have been a case of intermittent viral shedding as the infected passenger – a transit passenger who did not originate from Singapore – had tested negative before departure but positive post arrival.

In any case, he said any travel bubble between Singapore and Hong Kong will not carry transit passengers but only origin-destination passengers, Mr Ong said.

The three passengers who failed to comply with the requirements were tested negative but carrying certificates from laboratories that are not ISO certified, he added.

“Those are technical breaches. Combined together, the Hong Kong civil aviation authorities enforce this very strictly, so it triggers the suspension,” he said.

“We continue to want to work with Hong Kong to restore this travel bubble.”