Singapore — Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (MCMP) Leong Mun Wai raised in Parliament that some teachers have already started practising Vaccination Differentiated Safe (VDS) management measures in schools. Mr Leong then asked if the VDS management measures are against government policy.
During the Parliamentary sitting on Monday (Jan 10), eight MPs raised various questions about the vaccinations and vaccination-differentiated safe management measures (VDS) for children.
Mr Leong asked if the VDS measures will not be applied to children below 12 years old, at least until the non-mRNA vaccines are available for them.
He said: “I received feedback from residents that some teachers have already practised VDS measures in schools. So can the Education Minister confirm that if teachers are practising that or any officers in the schools are practising that, that is against government policy at the moment?”
To this, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing asked Mr Leong for further information on which schools and which VDS measures have been implemented.
Mr Leong replied: “The resident who has given feedback to me is on my WhatsApp messages (sic). Can I refer to the messages, and then I give a reply later? Thank you”.
Wanting to follow up on the matter, Mr Chan asked again if Mr Leong could provide the information on which teacher in which school practised VDS measures.
“At this point in time, we have no plans to apply any VDS in our schools. We want, as far as possible, for our students to be able to participate in the core curriculum, in the school activities. For certain selected activities that may be deemed of a higher risk, we may consider applying specific measures for them”, Mr Chan added.
He explained that students playing wind instruments, the choir, or students participating in sports activities that may require close physical contact are some examples of activities of higher risk.
“I also caveated my explanation by saying that of course, we will look at the overall national posture for us to adjust our policies accordingly”, Mr Chan added. /TISG