Young adults in S'pore aged 39 & below to be vaccinated after students: PM Lee

They can probably start booking their appointments from around mid-June.

Kayla Wong| May 31, 2021, 04:15 PM

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Young adults aged 39 years and younger will be vaccinated after students get their shots, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a live nationwide broadcast on Monday, May 31.

Graduating cohorts to be prioritised

Currently, vaccination of those aged 40 to 44 is ongoing.

PM Lee announced that the next group to be vaccinated after the 40-44 age group will be students, adding that in the latest Covid-19 outbreak, there are more cases of students getting infected in schools and tuition centres.

"While the children were not seriously ill, parents are naturally worried," he said.

Therefore, the government will make use of the June holidays to vaccinate students, with registration to open the next day on June 1.

Priority will be given to the graduating cohorts for 'O', 'N', and 'A' Levels, as well as special needs students, he elaborated.

Other students aged 12 years and above will then have their turn, including students in Institutes of Higher Learning (IHL).

Those aged 39 and below to get their jabs after

After the students get their shots, the final remaining group, young adults 39 years and younger, will be vaccinated, PM Lee said, adding that their turn will start around mid-June.

He further explained that as this is quite a large group, the government will be giving Singaporean citizens in the group a two-week priority window to book their appointments first, before they open up to the rest who want to be vaccinated.

Boost to vaccination programme with faster vaccine deliveries

PM Lee added that the authorities are vaccinating as many people as vaccine supplies allow.

He said while the country's 40 vaccination centres are running smoothly, they faced a constraint in vaccine supply, which explains why they have been "working very hard" to confirm and speed up deliveries of vaccines from their suppliers.

However, PM Lee added that the government has recently received further confirmation of faster vaccine deliveries over the next two months, which will allow a further boost to the nation's vaccination programme.

"We can offer the vaccine to everyone, even sooner than we expected," he said.

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Top image adapted via Ministry of Communications and Information & Maverick Asio/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images