Multi-Ministry Taskforce (MTF) co-chair Ong Ye Kung said in a press conference on 14 December that a new policy would be announced either by the end of this year or early next year.
The new policy determines the expiry of a person’s “fully vaccinated” status – persons will be required to get a booster shot for their status to be extended after expiration.
The current policy for “fully vaccinated” statuses is under review and that at present, a person’s fully vaccinated status expires after 365 days + 14 days after the second dose.
Booster shots
Ong said that the Covid-19 primary vaccination needs to be treated as a three-dose regime, with the public health policy needing to be geared towards that.
Two doses of the vaccine is 90% effectiuve against the Omicron variant one month after the second dose, with the effectiveness dropping to 50% after 4 months.
It then dropped to 35% after more than 4 months.
He said that the “erosion of protection is quite fast” but it was encouraging that the effectiveness of the vaccine against the Omicron variant increased 2 weeks after a booster.
Images source: Unsplash and Ong Ye Kung Facebook