Short-term pass holders who are in Singapore for long periods of time will soon be able to get their Covid-19 jabs under the national vaccination drive.
Those eligible will be progressively notified via text message from Aug 18, and more details will be announced shortly, the Health Ministry (MOH) said yesterday. It did not elaborate on how long a pass holder has to stay in the country to qualify.
The vaccination programme will be opened to these individuals because a good majority of Singapore citizens, permanent residents and long-term pass holders have been vaccinated, MOH added.
To make it easier for people - especially seniors - to get their jabs, the number of Public Health Preparedness Clinics (PHPCs) offering Covid-19 vaccinations will be increased to more than 60 by the end of this month, up from 44 now.
From Aug 18, all Singaporeans, permanent residents and long-term pass holders aged 12 and above can walk into any polyclinic or the 44 PHPCs to get their Covid-19 vaccination, said MOH.
The list of participating PHPCs can be found on www.vaccine.gov.sg
Since Tuesday, those individuals have been able to walk into any of the 37 vaccination centres here to get their jabs without a prior appointment.
As at Thursday, 84 per cent of seniors aged 60 and above are fully vaccinated, while 89 per cent have received at least their first dose. However, more than 115,000 are still unvaccinated, said MOH, urging this group of seniors to get their jabs.
The ministry said 6,600 seniors have received their vaccines from mobile vaccination and home vaccination teams.
To date, 10 mobile vaccination teams have travelled to around 90 heartland locations with higher populations of seniors, while 11 home vaccination teams have served housebound individuals.
General practitioners and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners are also helping to educate their unvaccinated elderly patients on the importance of getting inoculated, it said.
Singapore will also help neighbouring countries in their vaccination efforts through donation and swopping of vaccines, as it has made good progress in its vaccination programme and have set aside sufficient vaccine supplies, said MOH.
"This will help to boost the overall resiliency of our region against Covid-19," it added.
