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SINGAPORE: Instead of aiming for a certain percentage of the population to be inoculated to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19, Singapore should vaccinate as many people as possible.
In an interview with the CNA, Associate Professor Lim Poh Lian, who is on the Expert Committee for COVID-19 Vaccination, said that it is a “mistake to focus on the percentages” when it comes to COVID-19 vaccination.
“I think the optimal outcome is that we vaccinate everyone in Singapore who we can safely vaccinate and who are willing to get vaccinated,” he said, days after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that the first shipments of a COVID-19 vaccine They should arrive in Singapore before the end of the year.
Herd immunity, a term that has been much discussed since the pandemic began, refers to how a virus disappears when enough people in the “herd” or community are protected against it.
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It means there will be no outbreaks in the community, but it does not mean there are no cases or small groups, said Assoc Prof Lim, senior consultant and director of the Tan Tock Seng Travel Health and Vaccination Clinic. Hospital.
“Even if we get 70 percent or 80 percent of the population vaccinated, four people you see may be fine but that fifth person is not well. That person would get hurt, get sick, and end up in ICU with a ventilator, “he said.
Associate Professor Lim Poh Lian, Senior Consultant and Director of the Travel Health and Vaccination Clinic at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. (Photo courtesy of A / Prof Lim)
The director of the High Level Isolation Unit at the National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID) has been on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19, treating patients and providing public health consulting. He is also part of the United Nations Global Health Crisis Task Force and the Global Outbreak Response and Alert Network (GOARN) Committee of the World Health Organization (WHO).
As a member of the Expert Committee for COVID-19 Vaccination, he advises on the medical aspects of vaccination and how this could affect public health guidance, operations, and communication with patients and the public. It is an extension of his work in the committee of experts on immunizations of the Ministry of Health for more than 10 years.
Assoc Prof Lim is also the doctor who connected the dots that led to the diagnosis of the first case of monkeypox in Singapore last year.
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He received an honorable mention at the 2020 Healthcare Humanity Awards, an event that honors exemplary healthcare workers, caregivers and volunteers.
The award also recognized her compassion for the sick and disadvantaged beyond her profession: In 2018, she adopted Lucas, a hearing-impaired orphan from China after hearing about his plight in a CNA documentary.
Associate Professor Lim Poh Lian and her son Lucas Yap Keyuan. (Photo courtesy of A / Prof Lim)
Associate Professor Lim, who has three other children between the ages of 18 and 20, said she wants people to know that the vaccines are safe and that she would give them to her family.
“It is effective and we will take it ourselves. I would give it to my family when they meet the priority goal … because we are offering (vaccines) from the highest risk to the lowest risk, “he said.
He emphasized that the vaccines had been meticulously reviewed by the Health Sciences Authority of Singapore (HSA) and the expert committee, as well as by authorities abroad such as the US Food and Drug Administration.
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“It is normal to feel indecisive when there is a new vaccine, but we really are living in extraordinary times with a pandemic in many countries of the world.
“If we want to reopen Singapore safely, our society, our economy, our borders, then vaccines are a really important means of protection to protect ourselves, and also those we love and care about,” he said.
The biggest challenge for now was giving a double dose of the vaccine to about 5 million people, he said. Singapore has a population of 5.69 million.
“We’ve never done that before … when we vaccinate, each birth cohort has between 35,000 and 50,000 children. So going from 50,000 children a year to 5 million in a year. It’s really a big challenge,” he said.
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The HSA recommended that the vaccine be given to people over the age of 16, except pregnant women and people with compromised immune systems, pending safety and efficacy data in these groups of people.
Also, people with a history of anaphylaxis or the rapid onset of severe allergic reactions should not receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as a precaution.
(Image: Rafa Estrada)
Associate Professor Lim said Singapore will be on the lookout for short-term side effects such as anaphylaxis and severe allergic reactions, even when vaccinations are given. He added that while people can focus on the risk of taking the vaccine, they should also think about the risk of contracting COVID-19.
The current low number of cases may make people feel safe, but he said this was the best time to vaccinate everyone. This is because there can be a rush for vaccinations if the number of COVID-19 cases starts to rise and people may not be able to get a vaccine even if they wanted one.
For both vaccines that are the first to be administered worldwide, developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, two doses are required a few weeks apart. You wouldn’t get full protection until seven to 14 days after the second dose, he explained.
“We really want to encourage people during this time when … things are still safe and quiet, to get vaccinated, because the time to get vaccinated is not when things are raging, ideally.”
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People should also know that vaccines require two doses to work effectively, he said.
“If your arm hurts a lot on the first one and then you have to come back for second help in three weeks, I suspect some people may not want to go. What we really want to emphasize to people is that the vaccine is a two-dose series, “he said.
“One dose is not enough, it is necessary to complete two doses for complete protection and for protection to be as long-lasting as possible.”
So if as many people as possible get vaccinated, will life regain anything close to normal in Singapore?
Associate Professor Lim said that a successful implementation of the vaccine will help bring life “closer to normal,” but all precautions will continue for some time. After all, vaccines are not 100 percent effective and there are still segments of the population that cannot, or do not want to, be vaccinated.
“So we have to keep our masks, we have to keep the safe distance … until COVID is really controlled around the world, I think we will have to keep our guard up for quite some time.”
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