30 fully vaccinated individuals test positive for Covid-19, with mild to no symptoms: Gan Kim Yong

Singapore

AMONG the 1.2 million individuals who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in Singapore, 30 have so far tested positive for the coronavirus as of May 10, with the majority of them asymptomatic, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said in Parliament on Tuesday.

"We knew from the start that vaccine breakthroughs are possible, but vaccination will still significantly reduce the chances of infection," he said in his fourth update on the whole-of-government response to Covid-19 in a ministerial statement.

He noted that 57 per cent of these cases were asymptomatic, and none were severe cases that require more intensive care.

This pattern was also observed in the Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) cluster, one of 10 active clusters that have surfaced in Singapore's worst outbreak in about half a year.

Seven staff and two patients among the 43 cases in the cluster were fully vaccinated, he said.

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They were all either asymptomatic or only exhibited mild symptoms, with none requiring oxygen support.

However, among the remaining 34 who were not vaccinated, six required oxygen, two are in intensive care, and one has died from Covid-19 complications.

"While the numbers are too small to draw firm conclusions, the findings do indicate that vaccination provides critical protection even against Covid-19 variants," said Mr Gan.

This is because recent clusters at TTSH, the Immigration Checkpoints Authority and Tuas South community care facility were, according to sequencing results, driven by the B.1.617.2 variant, a more transmissible strain first detected in India.

On the whole, there were also 26 cases assessed to be re-infections, the minister said.

"We are still investigating whether these are due to general waning of immunity over time or the lack of cross-protection against specific variants of Covid-19 that the individual is naive to," said Mr Gan, adding that an update will be provided when there is more information.

He urged all Singaporeans to get vaccinated when it is offered to them.

As of May 9, 1.8 million individuals have received at least one dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine, both American-made, approved for use in Singapore.

In response to questions from Members of Parliament (MPs), Mr Gan said the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) is assessing if the Pfizer vaccine is safe for adolescents aged 12 to 15. Currently, both Pfizer and Moderna are approved for use on persons 16 and 18 years old and above respectively.

At the same time, HSA is "carefully evaluating" China-made Sinovac and a few other vaccines for use in Singapore, he said. On the whole, vaccine take-up has been encouraging, said Mr Gan. About two-thirds of eligible persons aged 45 and above have received the vaccination or booked their appointments for the jab.

However, there is a need to continue to encourage seniors to be immunised as they are the most vulnerable, said the minister.

He added that the government will be inviting subsequent age bands to receive the shot from the latter half of May, and this will be progressively extended in smaller age-bands due to limited vaccine supplies.

Those who have been assessed by a doctor to be allergic to the first dose should not continue with the second dose, Mr Gan said, adding that these individuals will be kept in the health ministry's records.

"We will inform them when there is a suitable vaccine for them, or when new evidence shows that current vaccines can be administered to them," he said. "At the same time, as more of us are vaccinated, we also protect them indirectly."