The Big Story: Covid-19 booster shot - some may not get same vaccine from earlier shots

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SINGAPORE - Catch up on the hottest topics on The Straits Times' weekday talk show.

The Big Story, broadcast every weekday at 5.30pm on Facebook and YouTube, has reporters and senior editors discussing the top stories of the day.

The show is helmed by multimedia correspondent Hairianto Diman and assistant video editor Olivia Quay, and airs live from ST's digital studio.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday (Aug 31), Singapore will send 500,000 doses of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine to Australia this week as part of a "dose sharing" agreement, with the Australian government returning the same quantity later in the year.

This swop deal will allow Australia to accelerate its vaccination programme. Just under 28 per cent of its population are fully vaccinated, compared with the 80 per cent in Singapore who have received both doses as at Aug 29.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the doses that Australia will be sending back in December "will have more potential use for us as booster shots then".

Meanwhile, when booster shots are rolled out in Singapore, some may be given the same vaccine as their first two doses, while others may be administered a different shot.

Both approaches are being considered, according to Associate Professor Lim Poh Lian. Prof Lim is the director of the High Level Isolation Unit at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases and also a member of the Expert Committee on Covid-19 Vaccination.

Meanwhile, after nearly 20 years, the last US troops have pulled out of Afghanistan. America's longest war has claimed the lives of nearly 2,500 US troops and an estimated 240,000 Afghans. It has also cost some U$2 trillion (S$2.7 trillion).

Foreign editor Bhagyashree Garekar discusses what the US' withdrawal might mean for the Afghan people, who are back under Taliban rule.

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