About 70% of COVID-19 Deaths in S’pore Last Year Are Not Fully Vaccinated

2022-01-11 , 7:45 am

Last Updated on 2022-01-12 , 9:28 am

Not vaccinated, or vaccinated but not boosted? You might want to go get your jabs soon.

Here’s why:

70% of COVID-19 Deaths Were Not Fully Vaccinated

Unvaccinated and not fully vaccinated individuals have the highest chances of developing serious illness when infected with COVID-19. Given this, it is no surprise that they made up 70% of COVID-19 deaths, despite being a small portion of the population.

Around 132,000 individuals above 18 years old are unvaccinated, and about 300 of them are medically ineligible for vaccination.

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung further shared on Monday (10 January) that the remaining 30% of deaths were vaccinated.

The rate of deaths differed based on whether or not they were vaccinated, as well as the different types of vaccines taken. Those who weren’t fully vaccinated had 79 deaths per 100,000 people.

Meanwhile, those who took Sinovac experienced 11 deaths per 100,000 and less than eight per 100,000 for Sinopharm.

For the mRNA vaccines, the rate of deaths was around six per 100,000 for Pfizer and one per 100,000 for Moderna.

However, don’t use these numbers as indicators of which vaccine you should take! These rates do not account for other factors that could affect death rates, like the vaccination timings.

But one thing’s for sure: getting vaccinated does protect you from serious illness.

Most of the Population is Vaccinated

Most of the population is well protected, with more than 90% of every eligible age group vaccinated.

In the age groups that tend to face the highest risks, the majority are fully vaccinated as well. 96% of seniors aged 60 to 69 have been fully vaccinated, while the number is at 95% for those aged 70 years old and above.

The younger generation is also mostly fully vaccinated, with the number standing at 95% for those aged 12 to 19 years old.

Those aged five to 11 have just started getting their vaccinations, but Minister Ong said that the response has been positive and the vaccinations are going smoothly.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) will also continue to closely track the availability of non-mRNA vaccines that are approved for pediatric use. As of now, children are only offered the mRNA Pfizer vaccine.

Minister Ong reaffirmed that MOH will keep on encouraging the medically eligible to get vaccinated. However, it gets harder to convince them as the number of unvaccinated gets smaller. (If you know any unvaccinated friends, maybe share this article with them?)

For those who are housebound, mobile vaccination teams can do house visits to vaccinate them, so nobody is left unprotected.

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Get Boosted Before Your Vaccination Status Expires

About 46% of the population has gotten their booster jabs, and up to 900,000 people aged 18 to 29 years old are now eligible for boosters.

Amongst these 900,000 people, 700,000 can even get boosted today!

The push to get boosted comes after MOH set a 270-day validity period for each individual’s full vaccination status. If you received the last dose of your vaccination more than 270 days ago, you will no longer be considered fully vaccinated.

Better remember to get your booster shot if you still want access to malls and dine-in options!

Reader: A third jab? Then will there be a fourth jab?

The Magic-8 Ball says: Reply hazy, try again.

It is too soon to see if more booster shots are needed, especially since only one country (Israel) has called for a fourth jab so far. Ask the Magic-8 Ball again after a few months, OK?

We Could Possibly Live With COVID-19 In The Future

The common flu, or influenza, exists amongst us, and it is usually no big deal if we get infected. Many people even get yearly vaccinations to protect themselves from the frequently mutating influenza viruses.

We do not close our borders and restrict dine-in options every time people contract the flu, right?

Similarly, COVID-19 might turn into an endemic, where society learns to just live with the virus in our midst. We could possibly just get regular vaccinations to cope with COVID-19.

But for now, COVID-19 is still more dangerous than the common flu. Continue to adhere to safe management measures and get vaccinated if you can!