MOH reminding people who had 2 doses of Sinovac or Sinopharm vaccine to get 3rd dose by Dec 31

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) is reminding some 70,000 people who have had their first two doses of the Sinovac-CoronaVac or Sinopharm vaccines to take their third. It warned that if they do not do so by Dec 31, they will lose their fully vaccinated status in the new year.

In a press release on Thursday (Dec 2), the ministry said that it has been sending out SMS notifications by phone from Dec 1 to those ​​eligible for their third dose.

“Beyond this time interval, the individual’s vaccination status will revert to ‘vaccination in progress’ and will be subject to the current vaccination-differentiated safe management measures, as well as the workforce vaccination measures, both of which will take effect on Jan 1, 2022,” MOH said.

People who have already received two doses of Sinovac-CoronaVac or Sinopharm vaccines are strongly recommended to get a messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine — Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna — for their third dose unless they are medically ineligible to do so.

They may walk into any vaccination centre offering the mRNA vaccines to receive their third dose, MOH added.

Otherwise, they should complete their primary series with a third dose of the Sinovac-CoronaVac or Sinopharm vaccines, whichever was received for the first two doses.

For people who developed an allergic reaction to the first dose of the mRNA vaccine and received the Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine for their second dose, they are required to complete a third dose of Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine 28 days after their second dose, to maintain their vaccination status.

MOH also announced that children born in 2009 who will turn 13 in 2022 will need to be fully vaccinated to enter venues and take part in activities with vaccine-related infection controls from March 1, 2022 instead of Jan 1, 2022.

The grace period will be extended to children born in December 2009 to allow them enough time to get fully vaccinated, it added.