No plans for now to place curbs on kids aged 12 and below: MOH

There are currently no plans to introduce vaccination-differentiated safe management measures for children aged 12 years and below, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said yesterday.

"The focus now is to ensure our children are well protected by vaccination," it added.

Children from five to 11 years old will be able to receive the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, starting with those in Primary 3 to 5 from the end of this month, and the younger ones thereafter early next year.

The vaccination exercise will involve more than 300,000 children.

In response to questions from reporters about whether children will be subjected to vaccination-differentiated rules, like only allowing those who are fully vaccinated to enter shopping malls, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said more details will be released soon.

"We are working through all this with the Ministry of Education. So don't jump to conclusions too soon. Once we have charted out the whole plan, together with MOE, we will announce the arrangements and the policies," he said yesterday at a press conference held by the multi-ministry task force tackling Covid-19.

Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary, acknowledging parents' concerns, cited evidence showing that risks of adverse reactions are low, as he urged families to vaccinate their young children.

Trials of the Pfizer vaccine in the United States found that children aged five to 11 had fewer side effects compared with those aged between 16 and 25, he said. The same study also showed that the vaccine is 90.7 per cent effective in preventing symptomatic forms of the disease in children in the age group.

Dr Janil said: "We know that parents are concerned. They want the best thing for their children. They want to be able to protect their children and create opportunities for their children. This is what we want as well.

"And our assessment is the best way to do that is to vaccinate our children against Covid-19."

He said that children may experience some side effects such as muscle pain, tiredness, fever or chills, as a result of the Covid-19 vaccine.

"These are all signs that the body is reacting to the vaccine and as a result building up protection and immunity. The side effects will go away in a few days," he added.

He said there have been one or two cases of multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) every week in Singapore since mid-October, with some of these children requiring care in the intensive care unit.

MIS-C, which affects a small minority of children afflicted with Covid-19, is a condition where different body parts, including the heart, lungs, kidney, brain and eyes, can become inflamed.

Dr Janil said vaccination will reduce the risk of severe complications if children get infected with Covid-19, and also protect their family members who are at risk.