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From June 29 onwards, the minimum interval between the first and second doses of the Covid-19 vaccines in the national vaccination programme will be shortened from six to eight weeks, to four weeks, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Tuesday (June 29).

This applies to both the Pfizer-BioNTech / Comirnaty and Moderna vaccines.

Shortening of interval between doses

On May 18, MOH extended the interval between the first and second doses of the Covid-19 vaccines in the national vaccination programme to an interval of six to eight weeks to maximise first dose coverage within the local population.

As MOH has confirmed their supply delivery and ramped up their vaccination rate, they expect the the majority of the population in Singapore will have been offered and received their first dose vaccination in the second half of July.

All eligible individuals who make their vaccination appointments from June 29 onwards will be able to schedule their first and second dose appointments four weeks apart.

Those who have already received their first dose and have their second dose appointment currently scheduled six to eight weeks later can also rebook and bring it forward to four weeks from their first dose appointment.

Rescheduling of vaccination appointments can be achieved via the same personalised booking link in the SMS that they had received earlier.

Acceleration of National Vaccine Programme

As of June 28, MOH has administered more than 5.3 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Around 3.3 million individuals or about 60 per cent of Singapore's population have received at least the first dose of the vaccine. 2.1 million individuals have received their second dose and completed the full vaccination regimen.

The take-up rate has been encouraging, MOH said.

About 76 per cent of eligible seniors aged 60 and above, 78 per cent of eligible persons aged 45 to 59, and 73 per cent of eligible persons aged 40 to 44 have received their Covid-19 vaccination or booked their vaccination appointments.

Almost 80 per cent of Singapore Citizens (SC) aged 12 to 39, including Ministry of Education (MOE) students, have also received vaccinations or booked their appointments.

Since June 24, about 50,000 of them have brought forward the date of their vaccination appointments for their first dose.

MOH strongly encourages SCs aged 12 to 39 who have not yet registered and booked their appointments to do so quickly in order to be protected against Covid-19 as soon as possible.

Vaccinations for PRs and Long-Term Pass holders aged 12 to 39

Following the steady vaccination take-up by SCs and the tapering off of the new registrations from those in the 12 to 39 age group, MOH will also bring forward the start date of the national vaccination programme for Permanent Residents (PRs) and Long-Term Pass holders in Singapore aged 12 to 39 from July 2, 2021, to June 30, 2021.

This will help to sustain the momentum of vaccinations and better utilise MOH's delivery capacity.

Individuals will be able to register their interest online via vaccine.gov.sg.

After registration, they will be progressively invited to book their vaccination appointments via an SMS with a personalised booking link sent to the mobile number they registered with.

They can then book their set of two appointments, four weeks apart, starting from June 30 onwards.

Top image by Mothership.