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As Singapore's vaccination programme continues, many may be wondering when their turn will come to become vaccinated.

Member of Parliament (MP) Foo Mee Har asked in Parliament on Monday (Apr. 5) whether there could be a standby queue at Covid-19 vaccination centres, where interested members of public could take the place of people who do not show up for their scheduled vaccinations.

No vaccine wastage

Responding to Foo, Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary said that the majority of people who booked appointments have showed up, and that the small number of cases who do not show up or who are unable to be vaccinated do not result in vaccine wastage.

Close to 98 per cent of people who booked appointments for Covid-19 vaccinations in the past 30 days showed up for their appointments, he said.

Out of these, an estimated 1 per cent were rejected because of concerns about allergies and other conditions.

However, Janil stated, these kinds of cases do not result in vaccine wastage.

This is because unopened vials can be stored at the sites for at least three days, and MOH closely monitors appointment bookings and past take-up rate in order to deliver the appropriate number of vaccine doses to vaccination sites.

Steps taken to reduce wastage

In addition, site providers avoid wastage by only starting a new vial once they confirm that there are people awaiting vaccination, said Janil.

At the end of each day, any remaining doses of the vaccine in a multi-dose vial are given to people on a pre-planned list, which includes staff working at the vaccination sites, or frontline volunteers in engaging seniors.

"We encourage everyone to be vaccinated when your turn comes, and to turn up at the vaccination appointments that you have made so that you do not deny another person of the opportunity," Janil said.

However, he said that MOH will continue to study Foo's suggestion, as the ministry considers how to best deal with prioritising those most at-risk while also having equitable distributions among Singapore's population.

Possibility of appealing

For members of the public who wish to be vaccinated earlier, MOH set up an appeals channel since Mar. 16 for Singapore citizens and permanent residents who need to travel overseas on compassionate grounds, for employment, or for studies.

MP Lim Biow Chuan said that he has many residents who have appealed, because they want to travel overseas for a number of reasons, such as for studies, looking after family members, or attending weddings.

Lim asked whether MOH might consider being more flexible about allowing people to get their vaccinations before they travel overseas rather than extending the vaccination programme to different age groups, which may contain people who may be "actually quite neutral about taking their vaccination earlier or later".

Janil responded that the limiting factor is supply, which has been limited by vaccine manufacturers' ability to deliver, due to high levels of global demand.

"Even though there may be some people who are a little bit agnostic about exactly when they get it and are willing to defer, the reality is that we are vaccinating people as quickly as possible given the supplies that come in."

Thus, he said, to prioritise one group would be at the expense of another group who also wish to be vaccinated.

Janil said that MOH will work its way through the appeals, to try to help as many people to be vaccinated as soon as possible, and that submitting documentation to support the criteria is "very helpful".

More than 1.5 million vaccine doses administered

As of Apr. 3, around 1.52 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered.

Around 1.05 million people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, of which more than 468,000 have received their second dose, completing the full vaccination regimen.

About 60 per cent of eligible seniors above the age of 70 and close to 70 per cent of eligible seniors aged 60 to 69 have received the Covid-19 vaccination or booked their vaccination appointments.

Roughly half of citizens and residents — or close to 500,000 — between the ages of 45 to 59 have registered for vaccinations.

Top photo by Hor Teng Teng.