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SINGAPORE – Singaporeans should be vaccinated against Covid-19 even if the number of community cases is low, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said, noting that the next outbreak is “only a single infection away.”
Doing so will provide better protection for the whole of society and allow Singapore to progressively restore community and economic activities to normal as quickly as possible, it added on Wednesday (December 30).
The vaccination will also prevent the health system from being overwhelmed and may pave the way for Singapore to reopen its travel routes, he said, urging residents to take the vaccine when it is available to them.
“International travel has been stopped due to border controls. With the vaccination, it will allow many of these travel routes to be reconnected, and allow Singapore to reconnect with the rest of the world,” said Gan, who co -chairs the multi-ministerial working group that addresses Covid-19.
He was speaking to journalists at the National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID), hours after Singapore’s Covid-19 vaccination exercise began with the first injections of Pfizer-BioNTech given to healthcare workers at the center.
When asked about concerns about the vaccine, Gan said that it has met the requirements of the World Health Organization, the Health Sciences Authority and other regulatory agencies.
He acknowledged that the long-term effects of the vaccine remain unknown, given that the vaccine has only been available for a few months.
“We continue to observe and continue to monitor the data that is emerging … there are precautions that are in place and the vaccines have met all the safety and efficacy requirements for their implementation,” he added.
Any potential risk from taking the vaccine must also be weighed against the potential for a person to contract Covid-19 and become seriously ill, he said, noting that a committee of experts recommended that all Singaporeans who are medically eligible should be vaccinated.
Gan added that cabinet members, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and himself, will also be vaccinated.
Schedules for that are currently being worked out, with priority for health workers, he said. “When my turn comes, I will also be among the first to step forward.”
The government had announced that health workers will be vaccinated in the coming weeks.
Singaporeans aged 70 and over will take their hits starting in February next year, followed by other Singaporeans and long-term residents who are medically eligible.
This is in line with the recommendations of the expert committee reviewing Singapore’s Covid-19 vaccination strategy, that healthcare and frontline workers, as well as those most vulnerable to serious complications if they contract Covid-19, should get vaccinated first.
The expert committee also assessed that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is suitable for use in people 16 years of age and older to protect against Covid-19, although the vaccine is not yet recommended for pregnant women and immunosuppressed individuals until more information is available. available.
The first shipment of the vaccine arrived in Singapore earlier this month (December 21) on a Singapore Airlines flight from Brussels.
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