Experts Predict How COVID-19 Vaccines Will be Distributed in S’pore

The exact vaccine distribution process in Singapore is one that has long been theorised, but there has been no conclusive evidence on how it would go.

Much to the chagrin of residents in Singapore, I’m sure.

And though this piece fails to break the trend, it does feature the opinions of established experts here in Singapore…

A notion which may just form the bedrock of the actual vaccine distribution process in the future.

Experts Predict How COVID-19 Vaccines Will be Distributed in S’pore

According to The Straits Times, Associate Professor Alex Cook, who serves as vice dean of research at the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, has conjured a possible vaccine-distribution plan over here in Singapore.

Drawing inspiration from other countries’ priority lists, Prof Cook said that healthcare workers should be given high priority, as they have to keep themselves in an optimal state to prevent the endangerment of their own patients.

“They put themselves in harm’s way by working on the frontlines, and we owe them the protection to keep themselves well, as well as to avoid endangering their patients. This is a social debt we owe them regardless of their citizenship,” he said.

Apparently, Singapore has a compact with healthcare workers as well.

However, due to the sheer number of people working in the healthcare profession, there may be a need to differentiate the layers.

For instance, nursing home workers, who work with the elderly, may be prioritised.

This is because older people affiliated with COVID-19 tend to experience lower survival rates, as compared to their younger counterparts.

As such, the elderly should be highly prioritised, alongside their caretakers.

“In Singapore, our deaths have been in older people so I think we should focus there, or on nursing home workers,” he said.

Apart from these groups, travellers could come into the priority queue, and migrant workers may be in line as well.

“Indeed our biggest threat remains migrant worker outbreaks and that as a strategy could well be justified.”

Meanwhile, it appears that vaccination will be a voluntary process, as stocks will undoubtedly prove insufficient at the start.

However, certain professions may find it a compulsory measure in light of the ongoing pandemic.

“The exceptions are when you put others at acute risk by declining vaccination,” said Prof. Cook.

“For instance, a frontline healthcare worker who refuses the vaccine is potentially putting her or his patients at risk, and it’s questionable whether that is ethically acceptable.”

Herd Immunity

Remember this term? Well, it’s back, and this time, it’s not through mass infections but mass vaccination.

To attain herd immunity, around 60% of the population will need to be vaccinated.

This is provided that the vaccine is at least 90% effective in the first place.

However, Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang, an infectious diseases expert at the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, has warned that outbreaks may still occur even with herd immunity in place.

“This doesn’t mean that there will be no more Covid-19 cases. Just that outbreaks will be smaller and will naturally burn out each time they occur.”

According to Professor Ooi Eng Eong of Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore will be looking at its risk of infection to determine the nation’s urgency for a vaccine.

If the risk is high, the country is likely to take whatever’s available, notwithstanding the possible availability of a ‘better’ vaccine in the future.

Vaccines

According to ST, Singapore may get its hands on vaccines as early as early-2021.

Remember the vaccine that Singapore was working on together with an American pharmaceutical company?

Well, preliminary results from the early clinical trials in Singapore are positive.

So positive that the Economic Development Board (EDB) is pumping in over S$60 million to manufacture the vaccine.

As previously stated, Singapore has “first claim” to the vaccine and is allowed to purchase up to S$75 million worth of vaccines from the company.

Provided everything goes smoothly, shipments of the vaccine could arrive in Singapore by the first three months of 2021.

The vaccine funded by Singapore isn’t the only one that has promising results.

The other vaccine, developed by American multinational pharmaceutical company Pfizer, could be ready as early as this year.

The company has been testing 4 different Covid-19 vaccines since May 2020 and announced, on 9 Nov, that one of them was more than 90% effective.

They’re now waiting for data on safety, which is expected to come in later in Nov 2020.

Both Pfizer and Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings are ready to ramp up production of their vaccines once the development and trial stages are over.

It was also previously outlined that should a vaccine be available, the vulnerable (read: the elderly) would get it first, followed by the healthcare staff who takes care of Covid-19 patients.

It would then be gradually rolled out to the rest of the population.

For all you know, we might be able to celebrate CNY 2021 without worries about any infection as most of us have been vaccinated. Who knows.

Featured Image: angellodeco / Shutterstock.com