Photographer: Oliver Bunic / Bloomberg
Photographer: Oliver Bunic / Bloomberg
Singapore is setting up special centers to provide daily Covid-19 vaccines to large groups of people, as well as allow the jobs to be taken at clinics and other established healthcare facilities.
These centers will be ready “soon,” the city’s chief state health scientist Tan Corh Chuan told the Straits Times in interview published Monday night.
Southeast Asian country, which launched the nationwide coronavirus vaccination campaign on December 30, is currently using the vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE. Health care workers and the elderly are among those who are the first to receive the vaccine, with those age 70 and above expect to get it from February.
Singapore has already received enough vaccines for the general population and expects more deliveries in the coming months, including photos from Moderna Inc. and Sinovac Biotech Limited, Minister of Health Gan Kim Yong said in parliament last week. Vaccines from both companies are currently being reviewed by the country’s health regulators.
Although data from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has shown that protection can last around three months, Tan said he expects as more information becomes available that it could show longer immunity up to two years. Singapore does not have to extend doses like other countries because they have enough supply, Tan said.
Although the government has not yet identified the number of people who have been vaccinated, 80 officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs involved in health care work have been vaccinated. In the coming weeks, 1,050 ministry officials will receive the injection. About 50 staff from one nursing home have been vaccinated, and a further 120 health care workers from the National University Health System, which operates several public hospitals, have also been photographed.
With issues remaining low, Singapore has slowed down the spread of virus loopholes in recent weeks, such as increasing the maximum collection capacity to eight from just five earlier. It is too they have performed over 5.6 million swab tests to date.