Vaccination bookings to begin in June for those under 45: Janil Puthucheary

SINGAPOREANS under the age of 45 will likely be invited from June to book their Covid-19 vaccinations, said Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary on Monday.

This is in line with the previously announced schedule to complete the vaccination programme by the end of the year.

As at April 3, 2021, about 1.52 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered, according to Dr Janil. Around 1.05 million individuals have received at least one dose of the vaccine, of which more than 468,000 individuals have received their second dose and completed the full vaccination regimen.

To date, about half of invited citizens and residents aged 45 to 59, numbering close to 500,000, have registered for vaccinations. About 17 per cent of those eligible have received their vaccinations or booked their appointments, with the rest slated to receive an SMS by May and expecting a booking slot by early June.

About 70 per cent of eligible seniors aged 60 to 69 have been vaccinated or booked vaccination appointments. This is true of about 60 per cent of eligible seniors aged 70 and above.

The Ministry of Health will be conducting further studies, collecting selected post-vaccination samples, to monitor the extent and duration of immunity provided by vaccines, Dr Janil said.

Separately, Dr Janil said that while they are actively discussing the possibility of mutual recognition of vaccination certificates with international counterparts, this may take some time. "Most countries have only just started vaccinations," he added.

Minister for Transport Ong Ye Kung named Australia as one potential partner for mutual recognition of vaccination certificates, which he noted would need to be "secure, tamper-proof and verifiable".

"However, vaccinations are only one aspect of pandemic control. Social distancing, contact tracing, quarantine and testing are also very important aspects which countries have used to control the spread of Covid-19 virus even as vaccines become available," he said.