SINGAPORE — Registration for vaccination for Primary 1 to 3 pupils in Ministry of Education (MOE) schools and madrasahs will start from Jan 5 due to the "encouraging" take-up rate of the national vaccination programme for Pri 4 to 6 pupils, which began registrations last week, said Education Minister Chan Chun Sing on Sunday (Dec 26).

So far, around 40 per cent of students have been signed up by their parents or guardians to receive their Pfizer-BioNTech jabs, which begin from Monday onwards at seven centres that cater for paediatric vaccinations.

The Pfizer messenger ribonucleic acid vaccine is the only jab approved for children aged between five and 11 in Singapore.

For the second tranche of registrations for Pri 1 to 3 pupils, SMS invitations will be sent to parents and guardians in MOE primary schools and madrasahs from Jan 5. Other pupils in the same age groups will be able to do so from Jan 6.

Speaking on the sidelines of a visit to a vaccination centre at Senja-Cashew Community Club in Bukit Panjang, Mr Chan also urged parents to consider booking jabs on Mondays to Thursdays, since many slots on Fridays and the weekends have been taken up.

"We are encouraging our parents to register from Mondays to Thursdays (as) we still have many slots. From MOE's perspective, if children go for their vaccinations in that period, we will grant them the necessary medical leave so the parents don’t have to worry that their child will be penalised," said Mr Chan.

Schools will also make arrangements to help the children catch up with any school work that they may have missed, while taking necessary precautions to make sure the child does not undergo strenuous activities due to their vaccination.

As to why his ministry is beginning registrations for Pri 1 to 3 pupils only after school reopens in 2022, Mr Chan said he understands many parents are wondering about the new school schedules for their children.

This way, children will be able to find out their schedules when they return to school on Jan 4, said the minister.

"Some parents might have also been waiting to register (their child in Pri 4 to 6) together with their younger children (from Pri 1 to 3), so we hope parents will continue to take up the registration as soon as possible," said Mr Chan.

Currently, a parent or guardian is needed to accompany their child aged between 5 and 11 through the vaccination process at the vaccination centre. More than one parent may also do so per child, depending on capacity limits at the vaccination centre.

At Senja-Cashew Community Club, staff from Thomson Medical, which operates the vaccination centre there, demonstrated to Mr Chan as well as to the media how the vaccination process is separate for children and adults, with dedicated registration, waiting areas and vaccination stations for both.

Colourful stickers and illustrations in the vaccination centre have been put up to ease the process for young children. The staff members, who are trained to handle child inoculations, don scrubs that have cartoons on them.

Much attention has also been placed on ensuring that children do not cross over to the adult vaccination areas. Paediatric vaccine doses for the Pfizer vaccine are different from that used for adults — children receive one-third the dose that adults get. They also use a smaller needle that is more suitable for younger children.

Ms Chan Wei Ling, chief executive officer of the Specialist Centres of Thomson Medical, said her firm has been vaccinating children aged 12 to 15 for some time already, with little issues.

"It has been so far, so good. So, we encourage parents with kids of a younger age group to come forward to protect their kids from the virus. There is no need to be fearful, we have our dedicated staff who are well trained to take care of your children so parents do not need to worry," said Ms Chan.