40 Covid-19 Vaccination Centres to Be Set Up By End-Apr; 3 to 6 Vaccination Centres to Open Every Week

If you’re anxious to receive your Covid-19 vaccination, you’ll be glad you clicked on this piece of news!

In addition to the 14 already operational vaccination centres, more venues will be converted into such centres to form a total of nearly 40 vaccination centres by the end of April 2021.

On a Facebook post made on Sunday (Feb 21) afternoon, Mdm Ho Ching, who will step down from her role as CEO of Temasek Holdings on 1 October, noted that with the current facilities, Singapore should be able to administer 30,000 shots a day.

The current vaccination centres consist of 11 Community Centres (CC), an unused school at Hong Kah, Raffles City Convention Centre and Changi Airport.

To check out the full list of free vaccination centres, click here.

About 40 Covid-19 Vaccination Centres Will Be Set Up

Apart from the current centres, other organisations will be roped in to increase the vaccination uptake.

There will be 20 polyclinics contributing to the vaccination effort. According to Mdm Ho, they will be able to administer 200 shots a day as seen from the Ang Mo Kio and Tanjong Pagar pilot programmes.

Additionally, general practitioner (GP) clinics will also be taking part, albeit on a much smaller scale. They can provide 15-20 shots a day for their local, elderly patients. This will be alongside the participating 17 private healthcare groups.

She also added that “there are about a dozen mobile teams which will go to nursing homes and other homes to help vaccinate folks who may be immobile. Or to cover residents at worker and school dorms, prisons, etc.”

Three To Six New Vaccination Centres Will Open Every Week

Singapore truly remains as efficient as ever. There will be three to six vaccination centres slated to begin operation every week, including three this Friday (Feb 26).

Mdm Ho asserts that with this, there will be 30 vaccination centres by the end of March. Sports halls and other large areas will be designated as vaccination centres.

Vaccinating the Pioneer and Merdeka Generation

With the above efforts, Singapore would be able to manage 50,000 to 60,000 shots a day.

Given that there are 600,000 citizens who belong to the Pioneer Generation (PG), “[w]e should be able to cover all PGs in 20-25 days, if everyone signs up,” said Ho.

To the other 600,000 that belong to the Merdeka Generation, don’t worry! Madam Ho predicts that sign-ups for the vaccine should open around late March (60 to 69-year-olds) and April for those in their 50s due to the increase in administering capacity.

She also advised elderly folks to visit their nearest CC if they have not received their invitation letter or SMS alert for vaccination registration.

As for those who have submitted their details online, they can expect an SMS alert when they’ll be able to receive the vaccine.

Vaccine Delivery and Improvement in Logistics

Madam Ho also mentioned that “[t]he pacing factor is really the vaccine delivery.”

Fortunately, the vaccines are expected to be delivered to Singapore every fortnight.

She also expressed that logistics will improve as efforts are made to ease supply further. Citing Pfizer’s application to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to transport and store vaccines using pharmaceutical freezers instead of the current requirements of ultra-cold freezers, she noted that this will allow for easier logistics handling.

“These are the various efforts even as production is ongoing and vaccination programmes are running, to smoothen and ease supply further.”

Complacency will only land us in trouble. Continue to mask up, keep your hands clean and visit a doctor immediately if you feel unwell.

To learn more about the nationwide vaccination programme, click here.

Feature Image: Shutterstock.com / Miriam Doerr Martin Frommherz