Minister of health and co-chair of the Multi Ministry Taskforce (MTF) Ong Ye Kung, said during a press conference on 21 January that “now is not the right time to take a gamble to remove VDS (Vaccination-Differentiated Safe Management Measures).
He said that about 120,000 adults above the age of 20 are unvaccinated in Singapore, with most of them being unvaccinated by choice and very few due to being ineligible medically.
He explained that the VDS remains necessary because this pool of unvaccinated people can put a strain on the healthcare system due to them having a higher risk of getting severely sick.
Ong said:
“Even if say, a quarter of the 5,800 ICU cases occur over a duration of four to eight weeks, it will be a significant load on our healthcare system.
A significant load enough to displace many patients — suffering from acute complications of cancer or severe chronic diseases — who may need urgent medical care.
Enough load to consume a lot of costly Covid-19 therapeutics.
Enough to degrade the overall quality of care of the healthcare system, which will ultimately affect everyone, especially non-Covid patients who are critically ill.”
Two thirds of ICU beds occupied by non-fully vaxxed
Ong said that throughout the pandemic, about two-thirds of Singapore’s ICU beds were occupied by persons who were not fully vaccinated and that it is very like to turn out the same way for the Omicron variant.
He added: “Specifically, the chances of unvaccinated individuals falling severely ill or dying are, for those in their 60s, 7.2%; for those in the 70s, 14%; for those 80 and above, 24%.”
Cannot gamble on Singaporeans’ health
Ong said that based on the set of data, it is incorrect to say that that load on the healthcare system caused by the non-vaccinated will not be significant and that VDS is necessary.
He explained that the government’s response must be scientifically backed up and although the Omicron variant appears less severe than Delta, “not is not the right time to take a gamble to remove VDS, we cannot gamble on the health of Singaporeans.”