With fluctuating cases daily, the COVID-19 vaccine is one of the things we can count on in these tremulous times.
The authorities started rolling out the vaccines to the seniors a few months back but now, it’s time for the students to put on this “armour”.
At Least 75% of Eligible Students in S’pore Have Registered for COVID-19 Vaccine
Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said that at least three-quarters of all eligible students have booked their COVID-19 vaccination appointments.
Around 83% of the graduating cohort that will go through their GCE O- N- and A- levels examinations in 2021, and about 75% of JC1 students and students in polytechnics, have done the same as well.
For those that have yet to register, the Ministry of Education will continue to reach out and extend support to them.
Mr Chan also added that the third batch of invitations is in the midst of being sent out to Secondary 1, 2, 3 and Primary 6 students from Friday (4 June) onwards.
All MOE vaccination centres will be offering Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the only vaccine that’s approved for younger people in Singapore so far.
Updates on 16YO that was wrongly vaccinated
On 3 June, a 16-year-old boy was wrongly vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine at Kollam Ayer Community Club Vaccination Centre.
In case you’re not aware, Moderna vaccines are only authorised for those who are above 18 years old in Singapore. This is because Moderna had previously only limited their trials to people 18-year-old and older whereas, Pfizer was tested on children as young as 12 years old.
The mistake was only discovered by the staff during the observation period after the jab.
Investigations revealed that the boy’s date of birth had been erroneously entered when booking a vaccination appointment after receiving the sign-up link.
Consequently, his age was incorrectly registered as above 18 years of age, making it possible for a Moderna vaccination centre to be selected.
The vaccination centre staff had also failed to verify his age during registration, which should have been carried out, the statement said.
According to Education Minister Chan Chun Sing, the student is “coping well”. There were no adverse side effects so far. The ministry is working with the family to ensure the student’s well being is taken care of.
After the mistake was spotted, there was a thorough debrief with the staff from the Ministry of Health (MOH) on the registration process and the on-site verification processes.
“So there’s a process whereby the MOH staff will look at the registration process to see how we can minimise the chances of a wrong entry.
“But having said that, the final layer of check must be on the ground whereby prior to the vaccination, the staff will check and verify the IC (identification card) number, the age profile of the person coming in for the vaccination,” said Mr Chan.
Instructions had also been issued to vaccination centres that offer the Moderna vaccine to prevent similar error from happening.
“So we want to make sure that all the Moderna centres put in an extra layer of checks to make sure that whoever goes to the Moderna centres is eligible for the Moderna vaccine,” added Mr Chan.
To know more about COVID-19 vaccines in Singapore, watch this video to the end:
Featured Image: Nakornthai / Shutterstock.com
