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SINGAPORE – Singapore’s Covid-19 vaccination exercise will begin on December 30 with healthcare workers at the National Center for Infectious Diseases, followed by seniors aged 70 and over next February.
The vaccines will be rolled out to more health institutions in the coming weeks, and public health institutions and private hospitals will see that their staff are vaccinated at their respective facilities.
This is in line with the recommendations of an expert committee that frontline and healthcare workers and those most vulnerable to serious complications if they contract Covid-19 should get vaccinated first, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Sunday ( December 27).
The elderly will be vaccinated starting in February next year, followed by other Singaporeans and long-term residents who are medically eligible, the Health Ministry said.
This follows the full acceptance by the government of the recommendations of a 14-member expert committee that were presented last Thursday.
“Vaccination is not a miracle solution that can end the pandemic immediately, but it is a key factor for us to return to a safer situation,” the ministry said.
The Health Ministry said the vaccination will complement other “key enablers,” such as safe management measures, testing and contact tracing, to mitigate any spread and keep community transmission low.
In its statement, the committee noted that Covid-19 patients aged 70 and over have worse health outcomes than those aged 60 to 69, so it is recommended to start vaccination for the oldest age group first.
Protecting the elderly minimizes Covid-19-related mortality and morbidity, as well as potential strain on the healthcare system.
The committee has also assessed that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which arrived in Singapore earlier this month, is suitable for use in people aged 16 and over for the prevention of Covid-19, it said, although taking is not yet recommended. the vaccine for pregnant women and immunosuppressed people until more information is available.
This was after he conducted an independent review of the clinical data on the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, which was approved by the Health Sciences Authority.
The committee said the vaccine has shown a high efficacy of 95 percent, and its safety profile is consistent with the high standards set for other registered vaccines used in immunization against other diseases.
The recommendations follow Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s announcement on Dec. 14 that Covid-19 vaccines will be free to all Singaporeans and long-term residents currently here, with plans to cover everyone who wants one for end of next year.
Other recommendations from the expert committee include:
– All people living in Singapore who are medically eligible for vaccination should be vaccinated when vaccines become more widely available, although it should remain voluntary.
Achieving as high a level of population coverage as possible for Covid-19 vaccination can markedly reduce the overall proportion of the population that is susceptible to the disease and the likelihood of uncontrolled chains of transmission, the committee said.
High vaccination coverage also indirectly protects other people who are not yet eligible for vaccination, he added.
– Reserve around 5 percent of vaccine stocks available at any time for specific groups of people who are critically important to the functioning of Singapore. These could include people involved in ensuring that the country’s water, public services and other “essential services at the national level” are not interrupted.
This is independent of public health considerations for prioritizing certain population subgroups, to ensure Singapore can continue to function effectively amid a local outbreak, the committee said.
But detailed identification of these groups is beyond the mandate of the expert committee, he said, and will be left to the government.
– Ongoing public health measures, such as safe distancing, the use of masks and good hand hygiene, should be continued until a significant proportion of the population is vaccinated and more data is available on the duration of protection of the vaccine and its ability to prevent infection.
The committee was convened in October by the Ministry of Health to recommend a vaccination strategy for Singapore.
The chair of the expert committee, Associate Professor Benjamin Ong, said that while Singapore currently has a low rate of local transmission of Covid-19, it remains vulnerable to the threat of an increase in cases.
“As such, it is important that we achieve the fullest possible coverage of Covid-19 vaccination throughout the population. We strongly encourage all people who are medically eligible to get vaccinated when the vaccine becomes available to them,” he added. .
Other members of the committee are Chief Health Scientist from the Ministry of Health, Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, Associate Professor David Lye from the National Center for Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Anuradha Poonepalli from the HSA Health Products Regulation Group.
The committee’s report to the Singapore government was based on information available as of last Wednesday.
He also said that while public health measures have been shown to be effective in containing outbreaks, the “fundamental challenge” is that the vast majority of people in Singapore and the world do not have immunity to the new virus.
“The development and availability of effective vaccines against Covid-19 is a critically important milestone, providing the means to fundamentally contain the pandemic, lessen its impact in terms of morbidity and deaths from infection, and ultimately enable societies to get back to normal, “the report states. additional.
Singapore currently has a low transmission rate, he noted, but the threat of an outbreak persists as the global pandemic intensifies and the country resumes more activities.
It remains vulnerable to the disease and its spread, with the country’s high population density and a significant proportion of older people, the report said, adding that it is very valuable to vaccinate the population widely to preventively protect against the risk of Covid- 19.
The committee said it considered four key criteria in evaluating the suitability of candidate vaccines: safety, efficacy, tolerability and adequacy of the vaccine’s clinical trial data.
He noted that the HSA clinical evaluation of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine includes how it has a high efficacy of 95 percent, with no significant safety concerns identified thus far.
But ongoing monitoring of the long-term efficacy of the vaccine will be necessary to determine the duration of protection, as well as rare and serious adverse effects.
As more vaccines become available, the committee will make further recommendations on other groups to be prioritized, he said, such as those who live or work in settings where there is the potential for rapid transmission and large outbreaks.
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