It seems that there is strong demand for the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine.
Local Chinese afternoon daily Shin Min Daily News (SMDN) reported on Wednesday (June 23) that hundreds of people thronged private clinics over the past few days to book appointments to receive the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine.
So far, 24 clinics have been approved by MOH to administer the Sinovac jabs.
The Chinese daily reported that these clinics have been inundated with enquiries. One clinic at Pickering Street — T Medical Clinic — even saw an overnight queue.
Another clinic on Tampines Street 91, the Little Cross Family Clinic, received such a large crowd that the police were activated. A resident from the area told SMDN she noticed that the queue, which was about 100 strong, had persisted for three to four days. At its peak, there was around 400 people in the queue.
When a SMDN reporter was on the ground, the queue has shrunk to fewer than 100.
They also spotted a few police officers at the clinic. A driver told the paper that he went down to queue because he couldn't understand the information about the vaccine online and could not contact the clinic via phone.
Image courtesy of Shin Min Daily News.
As the clinic was giving out a limited number of appointment slots, many people in the queue failed to book their appointments. One man surnamed Song told SMDN that he queued for three days.
Because of the strong demand, StarMed Specialist Centre, one of the 24 clinics that has been approved to administer the Singapore government's stock of Sinovac Covid-19 vaccines, is also mulling over the possibility of bringing in more doses and other non-mRNA vaccines, reported CNA.
Top images via SMDN, via.