Proof of COVID-19 Vaccination for Singaporeans

10 Ms Joan Pereira asked the Minister for Health whether the Ministry will provide cards or letters to Singaporeans who, for medical reasons, are unable to receive their COVID-19 vaccinations, for them to show merchants and their staff who may disallow those without vaccination from entering their stores in future.

11 Ms Foo Mee Har asked the Minister for Health whether a digital vaccine passport system will be used to enable local residents who have been vaccinated to return to pre-COVID-19 activities and be exempted from quarantine upon return from overseas.

12 Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Minister for Health whether the approval of certain less commonly recognised COVID-19 vaccines for use in Singapore may compromise the value of our COVID-19 vaccine certification passport for travel to countries that do not recognise these vaccines.

13 Ms Ng Ling Ling asked the Minister for Health whether he can elaborate on the COVID-19 vaccination passport plan, especially on how business, compassionate and leisure travels may be allowed under such a plan.

The Senior Minister of State for Health (Dr Janil Puthucheary) (for the Minister for Health): Mr Speaker, may I take Question Nos 10 to 13 together, please?

Mr Speaker: Yes, please.

Dr Janil Puthucheary: Sir, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) and the Expert Committee on COVID-19 Vaccination (EC19V) will only approve COVID-19 vaccines that have met our high safety, quality and efficacy standards for use here in Singapore. The effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which are currently the only COVID-19 vaccines allowed for use in Singapore, are widely recognised internationally.

MOH will be releasing further information on how individuals can show their valid vaccination status when ready. We will make it easy and convenient to prove one’s vaccination status, including for persons without smart phones. The measures required for the unvaccinated are generally based on public health considerations to prevent infection and, so, would not distinguish between those who choose not to be vaccinated and those who were not medically eligible. Other vaccines may be available in the future for those who are not currently medically eligible. We will continue to evaluate scientific data and review the eligibility criteria accordingly.

Data on the duration of the vaccine’s protection and its effectiveness in preventing transmission, has been encouraging thus far. More data is needed to assess if changes to border measures, such as testing and Stay-Home Notice (SHN) requirements, can be made for vaccinated individuals. More information is also needed to assess if such measures will be affected by the different types of vaccines. We are actively discussing with international counterparts on the possible mutual recognition of vaccination certificates. However, most countries have only just started vaccinations. Border measures will also take into account other factors, such as the number of COVID-19 cases and the infection control measures implemented in the source countries. Hence, progress on cross-border recognition of vaccine certification may take some time. We will provide further updates when there is significant progress.

The COVID-19 vaccination programme remains voluntary. MOH encourages everyone who is medically eligible to get vaccinated.

Mr Speaker: Ms Foo Mee Har.

Ms Foo Mee Har (West Coast): Thank you, Speaker. I would like to ask the Senior Minister of State one supplementary question. The federal authorities in the US have updated travel guidelines for fully vaccinated people. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have declared that vaccinated travellers do not need a COVID-19 test unless required by the destination country and do not need to be quarantined upon returning to the US but should only be tested before boarding their return flight.

I would like to ask the Senior Minister of State if our Health Sciences Authority has reviewed the scientific basis for the US CDC's recommendations and whether Singapore may issue similar guidelines.

Dr Janil Puthucheary: Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for the question. Indeed, it is so and that is why, in the previous announcements, there were accommodations made for individuals who have completed the full vaccination regimen, such as from 24 April 2021, if you have had more than two weeks after your second dose, one can gain entry into events that require pre-event testing without the need to undergo pre-event testing.

Similarly, the same set of information has allowed us to make changes to the rostered routine testing for some personnel. So, the short answer to the Member's question is yes.

Mr Speaker: Assoc Prof Jamus Lim.

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim (Sengkang): I thank the Senior Minister of State for his responses. I am just wondering, very quickly, does the vaccine passport recognition influence our decision to approve specific types of vaccines? So, the concern, of course, is that, if we are approving vaccines with much lower efficacy rates, that will affect the overall recognition of our vaccine passports when they are to be issued.

And related to that, would the acceleration of the vaccine passport recognition be possible for countries that are deploying comparable vaccines to us?

Dr Janil Puthucheary: Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for his question. The answer is no. The factors taken into account for approving the vaccine are the vaccine's quality, its safety and its efficacy.

Mr Speaker: Ms Ng Ling Ling.

Ms Ng Ling Ling (Ang Mo Kio): I thank the Senior Minister of State for sharing about the progress and discussing the vaccine COVID-19 passports with various countries. While we need to wait for this to develop because the vaccination programmes are still happening in many countries, can I check how many countries are we actively in discussion with? Are they mostly unique system of bilateral recognition? And are we expecting a significant public budget to have to be invested, when countries open up more for such a recognition system to happen for air travel?

Dr Janil Puthucheary: Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for the questions. It would be premature to discuss the details of this at this point in time. As I have explained in my initial answer, the process is very early. Many countries have not really gotten significant proportion of their population vaccinated. And in truth, we are only getting going recently, and so, it is something that we will update as and when we have further information in the future.