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From Oct. 30, 2021, individuals can make appointments to receive the Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccination at the Raffles City Convention Centre (RCCC), the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a press release on Oct. 30.

This comes a week after the Multi-Ministry Taskforce (MTF) announced that the Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine would be included in the National Vaccination Programme (NVP) on Oct. 23.

Making appointments for Sinovac

Persons who have yet to take a dose of any Covid-19 vaccine and wish to take Sinovac may register their interest at vaccine.gov.sg from Oct. 30.

Once registered, they will be sent a personalised booking link, and be able to make an appointment at the vaccination centre at RCCC or at any of the 11 Public Health Preparedness Clinics (PHPCs) offering the Sinovac vaccine.

Persons who have previously taken at least one dose of the Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine at a Special Access Route (SAR) authorised private clinic can continue to take the remaining dose(s) of their three-dose regime at any of the PSAR-authorised private clinics, added MOH.

They may proceed to book their remaining appointments at these clinics from Nov. 1, if they have not already done so.

Those who were medically ineligible for a two-dose mRNA vaccine regime and previously invited to receive the Sinovac vaccine under a special public health programme can follow the instructions provided in their SMS invitation to continue with their regime.

Seniors aged 60 years and above will be able to walk-in to the vaccination centre at RCCC to receive the Sinovac vaccine from Oct. 31.

Walk-in for Moderna booster

From Nov. 1, all Singaporeans, Permanent Residents, and Long-Term Pass Holders aged 30 years and above who have completed their primary series vaccination regimen six months ago may also walk into any Moderna vaccination centre for their booster shot.

Nine vaccination centres currently offer the Moderna vaccine:

• Buona Vista Community Club
• Hong Kah North Community Club
• Kebun Baru Community Club
• Potong Pasir Community Club
• Punggol 21 Community Club
• Radin Mas Community Club
• Tampines East Community Club
• Woodlands Community Club
• Yew Tee Community Club

MOH clarified that those who had taken the Pfizer-BioNTech/ COMIRNATY vaccine for their previous doses can also choose to take the Moderna vaccine for their booster dose.

Effectiveness of booster shots

According to MOH, booster doses confer about a further 70 per cent risk reduction against Covid-19 infections, and 90 per cent risk reduction against severe infections, when comparing those who had received only two doses to date to those who had received their boosters for the same period.

MOH added:

"Therefore comparing individuals who are fully vaccinated and boosted, versus unvaccinated individuals, estimates combining data from different sources are that the former benefits from vaccine effectiveness of about 80 per cent or more against Covid-19 infection, and about 99 per cent against severe illness."

Top image via Raffles Medical Group