SINGAPORE (Reuters) – A committee of experts convened by the Singapore Ministry of Health has recommended that all residents clinically qualified for the COVID-19 vaccination get the vaccines as soon as they become available, although he said vaccination should remain a voluntary option.
The recommendation comes at a time when Singapore’s success in controlling the virus raises some doubts about whether they should receive the jabs. The city-state has reported almost zero new local cases daily in recent weeks.
The expert committee, meeting in October, recommended reaching the highest possible level of population coverage for the COVID-19 vaccination to reduce the overall proportion of the population that is susceptible to the disease and the likelihood of uncontrolled transmission chains, a statement on Sunday said.
Singapore approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, whose first batch arrived on December 21. The vaccine was also independently reviewed and supported by the committee.
Singapore has signed advance purchase agreements and made advance payments for several vaccine candidates, including those being developed by Moderna and Sinovac. He expects to have enough vaccines for all 5.7 million people by the third quarter of 2021.
The government said vaccines will be free, voluntary and given first to health professionals and the elderly.
On Sunday, the health ministry said vaccinations for health professionals would begin on December 30 and that the goal was to start vaccinating the elderly, from 70 years of age or older, from February.
On Monday, the country will enter its third phase of reopening when it suspends further anti-virus restrictions, including allowing groups of eight to meet in public, out of a limit of five, and increasing capacity limits for large meetings.
“Although the current number of cases in the community remains low, the risk of new imports of COVID-19 and spreading in the community will increase as we move to phase three and given the overall situation of COVID-19,” said the health ministry. , adding that he accepted the various recommendations of the commission.
(Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan in Singapore; edited by Kenneth Maxwell and Jason Neely)