Covid-19 vaccination for children under 12: What to know

The vaccination will be offered to 300,000 children between ages five and 11, starting with the older ones from Dec 27.

The programme will be open to all Singapore citizens, permanent residents and long-term pass holders.

MOE said 15 designated paediatric vaccination centres will be set up.

Seven will start operations from Dec 27, followed by seven more from Jan 3 next year.

One more will open in Yusof Ishak Secondary School’s indoor sports hall from Jan 11.

The first seven will open at Senja-Cashew Community Club in Bukit Panjang, Nanyang Community Club in Boon Lay, Our Tampines Hub, Pasir Ris Elias Community Club, Woodlands Galaxy Community Club, Nee Soon East Community Club and Hougang Community Club.

The full list of these centres will be uploaded at vaccine.gov.sg.

The MOE added that it thinks these 15 centres will have enough capacity to meet the expected demand, but will closely monitor the booking patterns.

Parents need to bring their children’s student IDs or other forms of identification such as their passports or birth certificates.

Parents who have registered through the National Appointment System (NAS) at the website child.vaccine.gov.sg are required to sign a consent form and bring along the hard copy or soft copy to the vaccination centre.

The consent form can be found on the NAS.

Children aged 12 and below will need to be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Those who are accompanied by an adult who is not their parent or guardian need to produce a parental authorisation form – which can be downloaded when booking the appointment.

Before vaccination, parents should ensure that their children are hydrated, have eaten and avoid strenuous exercise.

Children are encouraged to wear short-sleeved or loose clothes for their appointment.

From Dec 22, parents of Primary 4 to 6 pupils in MOE primary schools and madrasahs will begin receiving SMS invitations with a link to book a vaccination appointment.

From the week of Jan 3 next year, this will be rolled out to parents of Primary 1 to 3 pupils.

Parents who do not receive the SMS invite with the unique link, or who cannot use the link, can register their children on the NAS.

This will open from Dec 27 for those born between 2009 and 2012, and from the week of Jan 10 next year for children aged five and above.

Children at special education schools and Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children centres will receive registration instructions and guidelines from the schools.

The Covid-19 vaccine is effective in preventing symptomatic disease for the vast majority of those inoculated, but it is still possible for vaccinated individuals to get infected as no vaccines are 100 per cent effective, said MOE.

It said: “To continue to keep our pre-schools, MOE kindergartens and schools safe, we expect that we would need to retain some safe management measures… but there would certainly be greater scope for us to calibrate some of these safe management measures to allow a wider range of school activities, taking into account the prevailing national posture.”

This article was first published in The Straits Times.

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