Local paediatric vaccination centres are already being set up in preparation for when children aged 5 to 11 years old receive their Covid-19 doses.
In a recent Facebook post by Health Minister Ong Ye Kung last Thursday (16 December), he shares his visit to one of the local paediatric vaccination centres.
Local Paediatric Vaccination Centres Being Set Up For Kids Aged 5 To 11 Years Old
Image source: Facebook / Ong Ye Kung
Mr Ong writes in his post how the local paediatric vaccination centres are “gearing up to start work later this month”. He also mentions how they are expected to vaccinate about 1,000 children a day.
Around 300,000 children aged 5 to 11 years old are said to benefit from “greater protection” when they receive their Covid-19 jabs. Mr Ong says this is due to “clinical trials showed that vaccination is safe and effective”.
The centres were also designed with “lots of care” as the children and adult lanes have been clearly separated. The computers used to input children’s records are even marked differently “with a big superhero sticker”.
“Parents will be allowed to accompany their child at the centre,” says Mr Ong.
The minister also reassures parents and their children that the staff at the centres “are specially trained in paediatric vaccination”. He adds how there will be paediatric experts supporting each vaccination centre.
“When children are also vaccinated, families will be better protected,” Mr Ong concludes his post.
Covid-19 Vaccination Extended To Children Aged 5 To 11 Years Old
Image source: Facebook / Ong Ye Kung
Earlier on 11 December, Mr Ong shared another post about the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) announcement of the extension of the Covid-19 vaccine to this age group.
Singapore joins other countries in this decision such as the US, Canada, Australia, Israel and member states of the European Union.
The vaccine doses for younger children will only be one-third of adult doses, according to the minister. MOH will be following up with more detailed announcements later on.
Along with this, it was also announced that booster shots will be extended to young residents aged 18 to 29 years old. This is if their second doses were taken 5 months ago or longer than that.
“With these changes, we expect to administer over two million doses of vaccines over two months in Dec 2021 and Jan 2022,” writes Mr Ong.
Lead image source from Facebook / Ong Ye Kung.
Source: CNA
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