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SINGAPORE: The COVID-19 situation in Singapore, including questions about vaccines, will be discussed when Parliament meets next Monday (January 4).
Health Minister Gan Kim Yong and Education Minister Lawrence Wong, who chair the multi-ministerial working group on COVID-19, will deliver ministerial statements including a third update on the government’s response to the pandemic.
Members of Parliament (MP), including Dr. Lim Wee Kiak, Mr. Lim Biow Chuan, Ms. Foo Mee Har and Ms. Sylvia Lim, among others, have asked about vaccination. On December 30, health workers at the National Center for Infectious Diseases became the first people in Singapore to receive the vaccine.
According to the order document, MPs have asked Gan about the total number of vaccines Singapore has obtained, details about the country’s vaccination program and how the safety and efficacy of the vaccines were evaluated.
Questions have also been raised about the potential side effects of the vaccine and how concerns about the vaccine among members of the public will be mitigated.
A variety of other COVID-19 related topics will be discussed, including how Singapore plans to deal with the highly infectious variant of the coronavirus that was found in the UK and the government’s current strategy to progressively reopen Singapore.
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Several MPs have also asked the Health Minister about the incident at Khoo Tech Puat hospital, where breast cancer patients may have received unnecessary treatment.
The questions revolve around the number of patients affected, whether they suffered major or long-term side effects, and what steps have been taken to ensure that errors do not recur.
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Among the other questions, MPs have asked about a recent study on the children of divorced parents and how they are doing. Other topics that will be discussed include online scams, QR code scams, and scams related to cashless payments.
The introduction of the Electronic Transactions Bill (Amendment) is also scheduled.
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