Ms Foo Mee Har asked the Minister for Health (a) what assessment has been made regarding the current risks associated with increased COVID-19 infections; (b) whether the Ministry considers it necessary to implement new health protocols to control the increase in cases; and (c) what measures are being planned to protect vulnerable populations and ensure healthcare system resilience amidst the rising infection rates.
Mr Ong Ye Kung: My response will also cover the matter raised in Parliamentary Question No 46 for Written Answer by Mr Liang Eng Hwa for today’s Sitting.
The current COVID-19 wave, which started in mid-April 2024, has been on a steady decline. It peaked in early May 2024 at around 26,000 cases per week, while the hospitalised COVID-19 cases peaked two weeks later with 370 beds occupied. The weekly estimated number of COVID-19 cases has since declined to 8,700 cases, as COVID-19 hospital bed occupancy has dropped to around 130. The average number of cases in the Intensive Care Unit remains low at four cases.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) has taken some measures to protect our healthcare capacity, but we have ridden through another wave without having to impose any additional restrictions. This is consistent with our intention to live with COVID-19 as an endemic disease, just like influenza or chickenpox.
Vaccination remains important to reduce the risk of severe infections. As of 23 June 2024, about 60.5% of our total population did not receive any COVID-19 vaccination in the last two years. On the other hand, countries like Denmark are able to get the broad majority of their population to take the updated COVID-19 vaccine.
This is a cause for concern because we know that vaccine protection will wane with time, and as the virus mutates further, at some point, there can be escalated risks of many infected patients falling severely sick, just like at the beginning of the pandemic.
MOH is thus encouraging individuals, especially vulnerable ones like seniors, to take their COVID-19 vaccination. We are bringing on board Healthier SG clinics to provide COVID-19 vaccination. There are 320 Healthier SG general practitioner clinics providing COVID-19 vaccinations as of 24 June 2024, in addition to the five Joint Testing and Vaccination Centres around the island.
Mr Neil Parekh Nimil Rajnikant asked the Minister for Health (a) what is the status of COVID-19 related vaccination amongst the population especially as to how many seniors have gone beyond their fourth vaccination to date; (b) what are the reasons cited by Singaporeans for not having taken their additional booster shots; and (c) what steps will be taken to educate citizens on the importance of the additional boosters in view of current global concerns about the virus and the recent spike of COVID-19 cases locally.
Mr Ong Ye Kung: As of June 2024, only about 15% of seniors aged 60 and above, have received more than four doses of COVID-19 vaccinations. Many Singaporeans are reluctant to take further doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Much of it is because of vaccine fatigue and wanting to put the crisis behind us. This is, in turn, due to the perceptions that COVID-19 is no longer a severe disease and there are side-effects to taking the vaccines.
Seniors and vulnerable individuals are recommended to stay updated with their vaccination, which means that they ought to take the vaccine once a year to keep themselves protected. COVID-19 did not become mild all of a sudden, it is mild because we have taken the vaccines earlier, which protected us against severe illness when infected.
Side-effects are inevitable for any medications, but local and international evidence continue to show that severe side-effects from COVID-19 vaccination are infrequent and, even then, most recovered by themselves. Many people, due to various reasons, including years of lifestyle habits, have developed chronic illnesses that progressed into heart attacks and strokes. Others, due to ageing, also developed various medical conditions. There is a tendency to conflate these diseases with the taking of COVID-19 vaccines. It is much more important to lead a healthy lifestyle to prevent these diseases.
We are undertaking various measures, such as fully-funding COVID-19 vaccinations, sending out Social Media Service reminders and deploying mobile vaccination teams, to encourage vaccination especially amongst seniors. However, it is difficult to go against the current public perception and bring about a high vaccine uptake. Unlike many Western countries, we do not have a strong vaccination culture among adults.
We will try to change this over time. After all, flu and pneumococcal vaccination rates have gone up since the rollout of Healthier SG. We will encourage more Healthier SG clinics to come on board to provide COVID-19 vaccination. By leveraging the relationship between family physicians and residents, we can hopefully keep up societal resilience against COVID-19, which will be here to stay.
