S'pore watching overseas studies to see if vaccines necessary for kids under five

Singapore is watching studies overseas to see if Covid-19 vaccines for children in the zero-to-four age group will be necessary, said Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary.

"Currently, there are trials going on trying to decide what is the right dose and timing of the vaccine for children younger than five, but those haven't been completed yet," he said in an interview with The Straits Times yesterday.

"So then (it's) not right for us to roll out the vaccine for younger children until those trials have been completed."

He added: "What we have to know is that it works for them, and it works to give them significant immunity... So we have to wait for the research to show us that is the correct conclusion, then we will know this is the right thing to do."

He also explained that vaccinations typically begin with adults before moving on to younger age groups.

"All vaccinations go through this cycle," he said, adding that research is first carried out on adults to show that a vaccine is safe before it is administered to millions of other adults, with follow-up studies done.

This is followed by more trials with younger adults and then for children.

Dr Janil said: "The difference in size between a 10-year-old and a four-year-old is really quite large. But also internally, the way their bodies handle the dose is also different. So we have to find out what is the right dose and what is the right timing."

He said research is key in determining vaccine safety.

"Now, what we don't realise is that when we were growing up, we may have received vaccines at the age of five or 12 in school, but basically over time research has shown that you can give these at a younger and younger age."

The same is true for the Covid-19 vaccine, he said.

"We started off looking at it in adults, and over time, we know the safety, and so now we can do it for the younger children."

He noted that the age of five is not a "magic age" that makes children eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine. Rather, the cut-off age is based on studies that have been done to show that the vaccine is safe and effective.

"It is arbitrary, but it is the age for which the trials were done," he said.