Unvaccinated School Staff Must Undergo Regular COVID-19 Tests from 1 Oct

To jab or not to jab, that is the question.

For a large percentage of the population, the answer has been a resounding yes. However, many have yet to receive a single dose.

Some are medically ineligible for inoculation due to allergies, while are others fear adverse effects.

It’s ultimately the choice of residents if they want to get vaccinated, but those who turn down the offer may be subjected to different safety measures, as they’re at a higher risk of falling severely ill from the disease.

Besides not being able to dine in at restaurants, some unvaccinated residents will soon have to start undergoing regular tests.

Unvaccinated School Staff Must Undergo Regular COVID-19 Tests from 1 Oct

Under a new “vaccinate or regular test” regime, those who work in settings with children under 12 will be required to undergo antigen rapid tests (ART) twice a week from 1 Oct.

The new regime will apply to school staff as well as non-governmental employees who have regular contact with students aged 12 and below, such as those working in tuition and enrichment centres.

All those who have not been fully vaccinated will be tested under the regime, even if they are medically ineligible for the vaccine.

As Education Minister Chan Chun Sing noted in a Facebook post, schools, like any other community space, are not spared from transmission risks, despite the strict enforcement of safe management measures.

“From May to July, 216 students from our 600,000 student population got infected, with vast majority from household transmission. 103 of the 216 were primary school students,” Mr Chan wrote.

The new measures, based on a robust scientific approach, are aimed at keeping children safe, he said.

This is why school employees in high-risk settings, such as cleaners and physical education teachers who conduct mask-off activities, will be required to undergo testing every two weeks as part of the fast and easy testing (FET) regime, even if they are vaccinated.

Cleaners in tuition and enrichment centres that cater to students aged 12 and below will also be subjected to the FET regime from 3 Sep.

As Mr Chan explained: “Testing would allow us to be much more targeted in terms of who should stay away from school, and for how long.”

His ministry aims to expand its options for less-invasive testing methods, so students and families experience even fewer disruptions when there’s an outbreak.

He gave the example of using self-administered ART kits, where students and staff who test negative can return to school earlier.

Moreover, instead of placing whole levels on home-based learning when there’s an outbreak, the authorities will place close contacts and students from the same classes or CCA groups under leave of absence or quarantine order.

“With more evidence pointing to the efficacy of our previous measures and as we transit towards living with COVID-19 as an endemic situation, we will finetune measures further to minimise the disruptions while keeping our children safe,” he wrote.

Vaccination Progress: 73%

As of Wednesday (11 Aug), 73% of the population has been fully vaccinated, with nearly 4 million people having completed their full vaccination regimen.

This includes recipients of 141,405 doses of other vaccines recognised in the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing, which covered 82,881 people.

Additionally, 81% has received at least one dose.

Understand the importance of vaccination here:

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Featured Image: Facebook (Chan Chun Sing)