Police urge public to be vigilant against Covid-19 vaccination scams

SINGAPORE — As more people are scheduled for vaccination against Covid-19, the police are cautioning members of the public to be vigilant when they receive messages on the vaccination exercise to avoid falling prey to scams.

Those eligible for vaccination will, in time to come, receive SMS (short message service) messages asking them to sign up for the jabs. They will also be provided with a unique link to access the National Appointment System to schedule their appointments. 

Seniors will receive personalised letters inviting them to sign up for their vaccinations. 

In a statement on Thursday (Feb 4), the police said that people should check these messages for grammatical errors and ensure that the unique link ends with gov.sg before clicking on it.

Messages requesting payment for the vaccines, which are free for Singaporeans, permanent residents and long-term residents, or to obtain early access to the vaccines, are false.

“The Ministry of Health will not ask you to make any payment to schedule or to receive the vaccination,” the police said.

They also warned the public against sharing the unique link provided for the booking of their vaccination slots, because this link can be used only by the individual registered to it.

When in doubt, the public can verify the authenticity of messages by calling the Ministry of Health's hotline on 1800 333 9999.

The Health Sciences Authority on Wednesday granted interim authorisation for American firm Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine, after finding it to be 94 per cent effective.

The vaccine is suitable for individuals aged 18 and older, and the first shipment is expected to arrive next month. 

It is the second vaccine to be approved in Singapore, after the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was given the nod in December last year.

As of Tuesday, more than 175,000 people in Singapore have received their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which is administered in two doses 21 days apart. They include groups most at risk from the disease, such as workers in healthcare and essential services as well as seniors. 

About 6,000 of them have received the second dose of the vaccine and thus completed the full vaccination regimen.