Singapore ― “A very angry and oppressed Singaporean” started a petition that received almost 6,000 signatures for malls to be open to unvaccinated individuals.
A member of the public created a petition asking to allow unvaccinated people to enter malls in Singapore, following an announcement by the multi-ministry task force for Covid-19 that shopping malls will be off-limits to unvaccinated people beginning Oct 13.
“Singapore is a dense-populated island, and most goods and services are concentrated in malls to maximise space usage,” the petition noted.
“How can unvaxxed people be denied of important, including essential goods and services for themselves and their families?” it asked.
The petition highlighted that vaccinated individuals have as much, if not more viral loads than the unvaccinated.
Other points made include adverse reactions from vaccinations being “swept under the carpet” and “the majority of those hospitalised or died from Covid-19 in other countries with high vaccination rates have been vaccinated.”
Since being posted on Saturday, the petition garnered around 5,960 signatures.
It appears that the petition was taken down before the petition reached its goal of 7,500 signatures.
In a joint press release on Sunday (Oct 10), the Ministry of Health (MOH), Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and Enterprise Singapore (ESG) announced an expansion of the Vaccination-Differentiated Safe Management Measures (VDS) which was enacted to protect unvaccinated individuals and reduce the strain on the healthcare system.
VDS must be implemented for entry into shopping malls and large standalone stores, meaning only fully vaccinated persons will be allowed to enter the premises.
“We are aware of concerns raised by the public with regard to the need for some unvaccinated individuals to access medical and childcare related services in the malls. Provisions will be made to allow for access to these services,” the agencies said.
Members of the public will be given a one-week grace period for VDS in malls to be implemented from Oct 13 to Oct 19.
“We seek everyone’s support to observe safe management measures and cooperate with the malls as they implement the VDS. This will help lower transmission risks and slow down the pace of community infections in this Stabilisation Phase,” the agencies added. /TISG
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