At least 3 in 4 eligible students have registered for Covid-19 vaccine so far: Chan Chun Sing

SINGAPORE — At least three-quarters of all eligible students have already booked their Covid-19 vaccination appointments, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said on Friday (June 4).

About 83 per cent of students taking their GCE O-, N- and A-Level examinations this year have booked slots, and about 75 per cent of JC1 students and those in polytechnics have done the same, he added.

Nevertheless, he said that the Ministry of Education will continue to reach out to those who have not registered and extend support to them.

He also said that the third batch of invitations is in the midst of being sent out to Secondary 1, 2 and 3 students, as well as Primary 6 students from Friday.

Mr Chan was giving an update on the status of the vaccination exercise for students while touring ITE College Central, one of the three Institute of Technical Education (ITE) campuses being set up as vaccination centres.

All MOE vaccination centres will be offering Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines.

Notwithstanding “the very good progress”, Mr Chan said MOE will reach out to those who have not registered as they may need more information, or require some help in registering.

Providing updates on the 16-year-old student who was wrongly vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine, Mr Chan said the student is “coping well” and that there have been no adverse side effects thus far.

He also said that his parents are calm and that the ministry is working with the family to ensure that the student’s wellbeing is taken care of.

The boy was given the Moderna vaccine at the Kolam Ayer Community Club on Thursday, the first day vaccines were administered to students. The mistake was discovered when staff at the centre realised he was under 18 during the observation period after the jab.

There was thorough debrief with the staff from the Ministry of Health (MOH) on the registration process and the on-site verification processes after the error occurred on Thursday, he said.

“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.

He also said that instructions have been issued out to vaccination centres offering the Moderna vaccine given that it has not been approved for use for residents below 18 years old, while the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is approved for children from age 12 onwards.

“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.