Walk-In Available For Those Eligible For Second Booster Dose

      From 8 April 2022, eligible individuals aged 80 years and above may walk in to any Vaccination Centre (VC), or the more than 200 participating Public Health Preparedness Clinics (PHPCs), or participating Polyclinics to receive their second booster dose. An SMS with a personalised booking link will also be sent to their registered mobile number should they prefer to book an appointment online. Walk-ins to VCs are available any day of the week before 7.00pm. The list of VCs, participating PHPCs and participating Polyclinics can be found at www.vaccine.gov.sg/locations.

2.    On 24 March 2022, the Multi-Ministry Taskforce accepted the recommendation by the Expert Committee on COVID-19 Vaccination (EC19V) for all persons aged 80 years and above, persons living in aged care facilities, and medically vulnerable persons to receive a second booster dose from about five months after receiving their first booster dose.

3.    Persons living in aged care facilities such as nursing homes tend to have comorbidities and should receive a second booster dose even if they have not reached 80 years of age. For this group, the second booster dose will be organised through the respective aged care facilities and rolled out progressively.

4.    Other persons aged 12 years[1] and above who are medically vulnerable and at increased risk of severe disease due to significant medical risk factors, will need to bring along areferral memo from their treating doctors to any VC, participating PHPC or participating Polyclinic to receive their second booster dose. These include persons with chronic diseases of the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver and other organ systems.

5.    As recommended previously by the EC19V, immunocompromised persons are recommended to receive three doses as part of their primary enhanced series and to receive the first booster dose (i.e. fourth dose) around five months after the third dose of their enhanced primary series. There is no recommendation for a second booster dose for this group currently.

6.    For persons eligible to receive a second booster dose, the recommendation will not result in a change in their vaccination status for Vaccination-Differentiated Safe Management Measures if they choose not to receive the second booster dose. Nevertheless, they are strongly encouraged to go for the second booster to protect themselves.

7.    There are currently no recommendations for healthy persons in younger age groups to receive a second booster dose, as they have better immune responses to vaccination and are at a lower risk of severe disease.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH

6 APRIL 2022

[1] Individuals aged 12-17 are only offered the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty vaccine.