Support for Singaporeans Living Abroad in Countries with Limited Access to COVID-19 Vaccinations
Ministry of Foreign AffairsSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Mr Leon Perera’s inquiry regarding the COVID-19 vaccination status of Singapore’s overseas mission staff and support for Singaporeans in countries with limited vaccine access. Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan reported that 358 out of 359 overseas officers are vaccinated, with the final officer scheduled for completion by November 2021. The Minister explained that while overseas vaccinations are medically and legally unfeasible, the government seeks local program inclusion from foreign nations and has introduced two dedicated return options. These include receiving a dose during transit without serving a full Stay-Home Notice or receiving the first dose while serving the notice upon arrival. These measures aim to facilitate more convenient vaccination access for Singaporeans living abroad through specialized transit and post-arrival protocols when they return home.
Transcript
123 Mr Leon Perera asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs (a) whether and to what degree the staff working in Singapore’s overseas missions have obtained access to COVID-19 vaccinations; and (b) what support is provided to Singaporeans living abroad to gain access to COVID-19 vaccinations in countries where residents’ access to vaccinations is still limited.
Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Officers posted to our Overseas Missions are frontline and essential services personnel who have been given access to COVID-19 vaccinations. Currently, we have 359 officers based overseas and only one has not yet received the vaccination. The officer will be returning in the next few weeks and will be fully vaccinated by November 2021.
On the second query, we are unable to conduct vaccination overseas for medical and legal reasons. Therefore, to the extent possible, MFA will seek the cooperation of foreign governments to extend their local vaccination programmes to Singaporeans overseas.
We are also exploring options to make it more convenient for overseas Singaporeans to be vaccinated when they return to Singapore. We just announced two dedicated vaccination options under which Singaporeans overseas can receive one dose of vaccination on transit in Singapore without serving the full Stay-Home Notice (SHN). The Singaporean can then return to receive his second dose on transit again after the required dosing interval. The second option is for Singaporeans overseas to receive their first dose of vaccination while serving SHN after their arrival in Singapore and the second dose post-SHN.