The Ministry of Health announced yesterday that those above 50-years-old can get their 2nd Covid-19 booster shot from 10 June onwards at any vaccination centre offering mRNA jabs.
Here is what they said
Updates on COVID-19 Vaccination
Our vaccination coverage continues to be high. 95.9% and 91.7% of our eligible population have completed their primary series and first booster vaccinations respectively. As for the second booster dose, as of 8 June 2022, 49.3% of persons aged 80 and above who are eligible have either booked an appointment or already received them. As we take further strides towards normalcy and ease our community SMMs, vaccinations and boosters become even more critical to protect ourselves and our loved ones.
We strongly urge the remaining eligible individuals, particularly our seniors who are more vulnerable to severe disease if they were to become infected by COVID-19, to come forth for their vaccination and boosters, as soon as possible. The Ministry of Health (MOH) will be mounting further efforts to increase our booster rates, and details will be announced shortly.
Facilitating Second Boosters for Medically Vulnerable persons aged 18 and above
Medically vulnerable persons are one of the groups of persons recommended by the Expert Committee on COVID-19 Vaccination (EC19V) to receive a second booster dose.
From 1 July 2022, medically vulnerable persons with specific health conditions[1], may self-declare their health conditions to receive their second booster by walking into any Vaccination Centre, Public Health Preparedness Clinics (PHPCs) and polyclinics that offer vaccinations. To facilitate their vaccination, they will no longer require a doctor’s referral to receive their second booster. Other medically vulnerable persons will continue to be able to receive the second booster by providing a referral memo from their treating doctors. More details on the template of the self-declaration form will be announced in the coming weeks via MOH’s website.
Allowing persons aged 50 to 59 to receive Second Booster
We previously announced on 22 April 2022 that persons aged 60 to 79 years will be allowed to take their second booster about five months after receiving their first booster, if they wish to. Since then, EC19V has assessed that persons aged 50 to 59 years who wish to take their second booster may also do so at about five months after their first booster. This is in view of data indicating that the risk of severe COVID-19 increases in the age group of 50 to 59 as well. This is also around the age when chronic diseases start to set in. Hence from 10 June 2022, persons aged 50 years and above who wish to receive their second booster may do so by walking into any Vaccination Centre offering mRNA vaccines.
Recommended interval between primary series vaccination doses
The current minimum interval between the first two doses will continue to be 21 days for the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty and Novavax/Nuvaxovid vaccines and 28 days for Moderna/Spikevax and Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccines. This helped to expedite early protection against COVID-19 during the acute phase of the pandemic. Recent international data has shown that a wider gap of eight weeks between the initial two doses of COVID-19 primary series vaccinations may provide better vaccine protection for individuals. We encourage individuals who are taking their primary series to book their first two doses eight weeks apart. But those who need to complete their primary series sooner, particularly those who are at risk of exposure to COVID-19 or more susceptible to severe disease, may opt for a shorter interval between the two doses as long as it is not below the minimum interval.
Private Vaccination Programme Extended to All
We previously announced that Short-Term Visitors to Singapore aged 18 years and above could receive paid Moderna/Spikevax vaccinations and boosters under the Private Vaccination Programme (PVP). We will now extend the PVP to all individuals in Singapore who are aged 18 and above, including local residents. This will allow individuals who wish to take additional vaccine doses, but who do not qualify under the National Vaccination Programme, to do so based on a doctor’s assessment. Please refer to vaccine.gov.sg for the updated list of PVP providers. As this is a private arrangement, the vaccinations under the PVP will be at the individual’s own cost.